Browsing: Endocarditis

Comprehensive Information, Resources, and Support on 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.

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.