Compiling the identifying features of bacterial endocarditis

PREVIEW

Bacterial endocarditis is a life-threatening disease. Before the advent of antibiotics, its mortality rate was nearly 100%, but with today's diagnostic and therapeutic advances, it can be successfully managed in most cases. In this article, Drs Harris and Steimle explain the changes that occur when someone, who usually has an underlying cardiac defect, contracts bacteremia with an organism likely to adhere to heart valve surfaces. They describe risk factors, clinical presentations, identification of causative organisms, and empirical and specific therapy. A case report illustrates the many possible manifestations of the disease.