Case report: endocarditis in the absence of evident exposure.

Front Med (Lausanne)

Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology Section, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.

Published: August 2023

Q fever is a worldwide zoonotic disease caused by . In humans, it can manifest clinically as an acute or chronic disease and endocarditis, the most frequent complication of chronic Q fever is associated with the greatest morbidity and mortality. We report a severe case of endocarditis in a 55-year-old man with a history of aortic valve replacement affected by monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), and living in a non-endemic area for . After two episodes of fever of unknown origin (FUO), occurring 2 years apart and characterized by negative blood cultures, a serological diagnosis of Q fever endocarditis was performed even though the patient did not refer to possible past exposure to . Since people with preexisting valvular heart disease, when infected with , have reported a 40% risk of Q fever endocarditis, clinicians should maintain a high index of suspicion for infective endocarditis in all patients with FUO even when the exposure to appears to be unlikely.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10436321PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2023.1220205DOI Listing

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