Clostridium perfringens as a Cause of Infectious Endocarditis in a Patient with a Vascular Prosthesis

• Published in: Clinical infectious diseases Vol. 22; no. 5; pp. 866 - 867
• Main Authors: Mendes, Caio Marcio, Oplustil, Carmen Paz, Lemos dos Santos, Thogo José, Mady, Charles
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL The University of Chicago Press 01.05.1996; University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: Adult; Anaerobic bacteria; Aortic Valve; Bacterial diseases; Bacterial endocarditis, myocarditis and pericarditis. Bacterial diseases of the aorta, limb vessels and lymphatic vessels; Biological and medical sciences; Blood; Brief Reports; Clostridium Infections - etiology; Clostridium perfringens; Clostridium perfringens - pathogenicity; Endocarditis; Endocarditis, Bacterial - etiology; Heart Valve Prosthesis - adverse effects; Hemiplegia; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Infections; Infectious diseases; Male; Medical sciences; Penicillin; Prosthetics; Tropical medicine; South America; Brazil; America; Human; Prosthesis; Clostridiales; Cardiovascular disease; Heart valve; Clostridium perfringens; Infection; Case study; Heart disease; Clostridiaceae; Endocardial disease; Endocarditis; Bacteriosis; Bacteria
• ISSN: 1058-4838; 1537-6591
• DOI: 10.1093/clinids/22.5.866

Infective endocarditis (IE) is the most common and threatening form of endovascular infection, and gram-positive cocci are the most common causative agents. IE due to anaerobic bacteria is uncommon, but its incidence has increased, probably because of improvements in laboratory diagnostic methods. In 1970, Felner and Dowell [1] reviewed the medical literature on IE and reported that 1.3% of all cases were caused by anaerobic bacteria. In 1982 von Reyn et al. [2] found an incidence of 7.7% among 123 patients studied. In 1982 Sapico and Sarma [3] reported seven cases of IE due to anaerobic and microaerophilic bacteria; they found an incidence of 10.6%. Kolander et al. [4] reported one case of clostridial IE and reviewed 16 cases, Clostridium perfringens was the most common species involved. We report a case of prosthetic valve IE due to C. perfringens.