Browsing: Endocarditis

Infectious endocarditis is a disease caused by a bacterial or fungal infection on the heart’s endocardial surface. Structural and congenital heart disease, intravenous drug use, and prosthetic heart valves are major risk factors. Unexplained fever, systemic illness, night sweats are often suspected in patients with infectious endocarditis. The pathophysiology and treatment of infectious endocarditis depend upon the stages of the infectious endocarditis and the type of treatment used.

Endocarditis or infective endocarditis is an inflammation of the heart valves and endocardium (inner lining of the heart chambers) due to infections caused by some infectious organisms like bacteria or fungi. With the help of a proper diagnosis and medical treatment, more than 90 percent of patients suffering from bacterial endocarditis can recover.

Drug abuse is one of the major factors for infective endocarditis and patients who suffer from drug abuse infective endocarditis (DA-IE) have significant morbidity and mortality. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that the admissions for infective endocarditis in patients aged below 30 years with IVDA increased from 11% in 2008 to 27% in 2014.

Infective endocarditis (IE) is the inflammation of heart valves and endocardial wall due to various infections. It often presents a large number of dermatological manifestations like endocarditis rash, Osler’s nodes, Janeway lesions, cutaneous purpura etc. These manifestations may have an important prognostic role and can influence therapeutic decisions. Dermatologic examinations have been found to be important diagnostic methods in the presumptive diagnosis of the disease.

Endocarditis is a rare and potentially fatal infection of the endocardium (inner lining) of the heart. Most commonly it is caused by bacteria which enter into the blood stream and then travel to the heart, resulting in an inflammation of the inner lining of the heart.