Tropical Doctor > Tropical Doctor Online First > 10.1258/td.2009.090039

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Article

Brucella endocarditis: a report from Iran

Negin Esmailpour MD   ^*    Sima Borna MD   ^*   Mehrnaz Rasooli Nejad MD   ^*   Sina Moradmand Badie MD      Banafsheh Moradmand Badie MD      Azar Hadadi MD   ^*

^* Department of Infectious Diseases; Department of Cardiology, Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran; Iranian Research Center of HIV/AIDS (IRCHA), Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran

Correspondence to: Dr Negin Esmailpour, Shariati Hospital, Karegar Ave, Tehran, or Imam Khomeini Hospital (Infectious Diseases Ward), B Keshavarz Ave, Tehran, Iran Emails: esmilpour{at}sina.tums.ac.ir; esmailnegin{at}yahoo.com

Endocarditis is a rare focal complication of brucellosis but the most common cause of mortality. The diagnosis of the complications of endemic diseases is therefore important. We evaluated Brucella endocarditis cases in a teaching hospital in Iran between April 1998 and March 2006. Nine patients with a median age of 38.11 years were recorded, of whom seven (77.7%) were male. Underlying cardiopathy was present in three patients (33.3%). The median duration of the symptoms prior to diagnosis was 5.33 months. Endocarditis involved the aortic valve in six cases (66.6%), the mitral valve in two cases (22.2%) and the aortic valve plus the mitral valve in one case (11.1%). Serologic tests were positive in eight (88.8%) and blood culture was positive in two (22.2%). Aortic valve replacement surgery was undertaken for five patients (55.5%). One patient died due to arrhythmia. A high degree of suspicion is therefore necessary in order to ameliorate the course of Brucella endocarditis.

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