Q Fever Endocarditis with Homograft Valve Replacements

Q fever tricuspid valve endocarditis.

Q fever is a zoonosis caused by Coxiella burnetii. The most frequent clinical expression of the chronic form is a bacterial culture negative aortic or mitral endocarditis. A case of tricuspid valve endocarditis due to C burnetii is described, with a favourable outcome after treatment with doxycycline and hydroxychloroquine.

Apparent recurrence of Q fever endocarditis following homograft replacement of aortic valve.

A 39-year-old man with aortic stenosis and regurgitation developed Q fever endocarditis. After 15 weeks of chemotherapy with tetracycline the damaged aortic valve was replaced with a homograft. Organisms were present in the excised valve. Some months later the valve began to leak and the endocarditis recurred fatally. Because of the nature of rickettsial infection neither a course of chemothera...

Chronic Q fever endocarditis.

Eight patients with chronic Q fever endocarditis were treated with tetracycline for up to 40 months. In addition, five of these patients received co-trimoxazole. Six patients had prosthetic valves. Two patients who had Q fever endocarditis on their native valves required valve replacement because of haemodynamic difficulties: in only one did the Q fever endocarditis contribute to the haemodynam...

Chronic Q fever endocarditis.

Bacterial endocarditis following homograft replacement of the aortic valve.

Endocarditis was encountered on an aortic homograft valve in 14 of 539 patients, giving a total incidence of 2.6%. It was an early postoperative complication in five patients (0.9%), and only one of these survived. Four hundred and six hospital survivors were followed for periods up to 76 mo. Nine of these patients (2.2%) developed infection of the homograft valve 11 to 66 mo postoperatively an...