Natsheh A, Vidberg M, Friedmann R, Ben-Chetrit E, Yinnon AM, Zevin S. Prosthetic valve endocarditis due to Streptococcus pneumoniae.
SPRINGERPLUS 2014;
3:375. [PMID:
25126484 PMCID:
PMC4130964 DOI:
10.1186/2193-1801-3-375]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2014] [Accepted: 07/15/2014] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Introduction
In the pre-antibiotic era up 10% of cases of infective endocarditis were due to Streptococcus pneumoniae, but this association is currently exceedingly rare.
Case description
Since 1997 we have diagnosed three patients, all aged >70, with endocarditis due to S. pneumoniae. One of these three cases involved a prosthetic valve, another a prosthetic ring. All three patients completely recovered with antibiotic treatment only.
Discussion and evaluation
During the same period there were 1694 cases of pneumococcal bacteremia, of whom 395 (23%) after age 70. Therefore, after age 70 the prevalence of endocarditis out of all cases of pneumococcal bacteremia was 0.7%. A literature review detected another 16 cases of pneumococcal PVE. The mean age of these 17 patients was 64±14; 10 were female and 7 male. In most instances, symptom duration was short, < 6 days. Valve surgery was performed in 5 cases (29%) and 13 patients (76%) survived.
Conclusions
Endocarditis due to S. pneumoniae is rare in the antibiotic era; even in patients with prosthetic valves its course is evidently not more virulent than with other low-virulent organisms.
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