How safe is safe?--a case of Lactobacillus paracasei ssp. paracasei endocarditis and discussion of the safety of lactic acid bacteria.

We report a case of endocarditis due to Lactobacillus paracasei ssp. paracasei, which could be distinguished from Lactobacillus strains used for the fermentation of dairy products by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction. The safety of biotechnical lactic acid bacteria use is also discussed.