Experimental endocarditis. IV. Tricuspid and aortic valve infection with Candida albicans in rabbits.

Candida albicans is a pathogen of increasing significance in man and is the most common cause of fungal infection in patients with underlying disease(l). Endocardial infection with this microorganism usually occurs on previously damaged heart valves or after the placement of prosthetic heart valves(2). The route of entry of candida in these patients is believed to be the blood stream because of the frequency of infection in drug addicts and after the prolonged administration of intravenous medication through indwelling polyethylene catheters(3). Systemic fungal infections are difficult to treat; endocarditis due to C. albicans usually progresses to a fatal outcome(l-3). Previous efforts to reproduce candida endocarditis in animals have been limited to one study in dogs with surgically induced aortic insufficiency. This is a difficult model to establish and antibiotic treatment appeared to be necessary for the establishment of infection with C. guilliermondi(4). The discovery of simple techniques for the establishment of staphylococcal endocarditis in the right or left sides of the heart in rabbits prompted the present effort to establish intracardiac infection with C. albicans(5,6). The development of an easily reproducible, small animal model for experimental candida endocarditis would be of considerable value in increasing understanding of the pathogenesis of these infections and would permit detailed study of the effect of chemotherapeutic agents.