Introduction. Endocarditis is a rare complication of bacteraemia due to Listeria monocytogenes and is characterized by a high fatality rate (37-50 %). Recurrent infection by Listeria monocytogenes occurs even more rarely. Case presentation. We report a case of recurrent Listeria monocytogenes infection that resulted in severe endocarditis in a 66-year-old patient with an aortic valve prosthesis. Relapse was confirmed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multi-locus sequence typing (MLST). Conclusion. Our case highlights that the molecular subtyping approach is an important tool for the detection of microbial reinfections and for the support of clinical diagnosis.
Keywords: Listeria monocytogenes; endocarditis; invasive listeriosis; molecular subtyping; relapse; surveillance.