Endocarditis of the native aortic valve caused by Lactobacillus jensenii

Soumya Patnaik; Carlos Daniel Davila; Anupama Chennupati; Alexander Rubin

doi:10.1136/bcr-2014-206288

Endocarditis of the native aortic valve caused by Lactobacillus jensenii

BMJ Case Rep. 2015 Mar 6:2015:bcr2014206288. doi: 10.1136/bcr-2014-206288.

Authors

Soumya Patnaik¹, Carlos Daniel Davila¹, Anupama Chennupati², Alexander Rubin³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Internal Medicine, Albert Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
² Department of Medicine, Albert Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
³ Division of Cardiology, Albert Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Abstract

Lactobacilli are Gram-positive anaerobic rods or coccobacilli, commonly found as commensals in human mucosa. Rarely, they can cause serious infections such as infective endocarditis (IE), and the most frequently implicated species causing serious infections are L. casei and L. rhamnosus. IE caused by Lactobacillus jensenii is very rare, with only six reported cases so far, to the best of our knowledge. We present a case of native aortic valve endocarditis caused by L. jensenii, complicated by root abscess and complete heart block, and requiring emergent surgical intervention.

2015 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Aortic Valve Insufficiency / etiology
Aortic Valve Insufficiency / microbiology
Aortic Valve Insufficiency / surgery*
Debridement
Endocarditis, Bacterial / diagnosis*
Endocarditis, Bacterial / etiology
Endocarditis, Bacterial / surgery
Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / complications
Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / microbiology
Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections / surgery*
Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation / methods*
Humans
Lactobacillus / isolation & purification*
Male
Middle Aged
Treatment Outcome