Bartonella endocarditis as a cause of acute heart failure. Importance of routine echocardiographic examination in acute respiratory failure in intensive care units
Abstract
The community of physicians was largely aware of Bartonella quintana especially at the beginning of the last century and in connection with occurence of so called trench fever. Today, it is a not very common cause of infectious endocarditis, especially in patients with immune compromise.
The trickery of this bacterium is that in most cases it is not detectable in blood culture, or only after a very long cultivation. The definitive diagnosis can usually be made only on the basis of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from the collected valve material.
The case report presents the case onalosf a 69 year old woman admitted to intensive care, originally for bronchopneumonia, who was diagnosed with a severe valvular defect and endocarditis diagnosed with the aid of echocardiographic examination. Presented case report tries to highlight the importance of routine echocardiographic examination performed by an intensivist-non-cardiologist and also to draw attention to the not very common case of cultivation negative endocarditis. (C) 2021, Czech Medical Association J.E.
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