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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Thorac Cardiovasc Surg Rep 2018; 07(01): e47-e49
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1675841
Case Report: Cardiac
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Pulmonary Valve Prosthesis Endocarditis Caused By Coxiella burnetii

Authors

  • Jamila Kremer

    1   Department of Cardiac Surgery, Universitatsklinikum Heidelberg Chirurgische Klinik, Heidelberg, Germany

  • Nico Tom Mutters

    2   Center of Infectious Diseases, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
    3   Institute for Infection Prevention and Hospital Epidemiology, Medical Centre—University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, Freiburg, Germany

  • Matthias Karck

    1   Department of Cardiac Surgery, Universitatsklinikum Heidelberg Chirurgische Klinik, Heidelberg, Germany

  • Katharina Last

    2   Center of Infectious Diseases, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
Further Information

Publication History

11 July 2018

12 October 2018

Publication Date:
29 November 2018 (online)

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Abstract

Background Coxiella burnetii is a gram-negative bacterium assigned to the family of Rickettsiaceae. Less than 1% of Q-fever infection leads to infective endocarditis (IE). Cases of reported pulmonary valve (PV) prosthesis endocarditis are scarce.

Case Description A patient with a PV prosthesis endocarditis caused by Coxiella burnetii was seeking asylum in Germany. Prosthesis replacement was performed. All obtained blood cultures showed no growth as well as microbiological cultures of the prosthetic valve tissue. A polymerase chain reaction analysis on the explanted prosthesis detected DNA of Coxiella spp.

Conclusion Diagnosing IE caused by Coxiella burnetii requires an interdisciplinary effort from both clinicians and microbiologists.

Keywords

endocarditis - pulmonary valve - infection