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Case Reports
. 2016 Sep;48(3):229-233.
doi: 10.3947/ic.2016.48.3.229. Epub 2016 Sep 12.

A Case of Infective Endocarditis caused by Abiotrophia defectiva in Korea

Seohyun Park  1 , Hea Won Ann  1   2 , Jin Young Ahn  1   2 , Nam Su Ku  1   3 , Sang Hoon Han  1   2 , Geu Ru Hong  1 , Jun Young Choi  1   2 , Young Goo Song  1   2 , June Myung Kim  1   2
Affiliations
Case Reports

A Case of Infective Endocarditis caused by Abiotrophia defectiva in Korea

Seohyun Park et al. Infect Chemother. 2016 Sep.

Abstract

Abiotrophia defectiva, a nutritionally variant streptococci can cause bacteremia, brain abscess, septic arthritis and in rare cases, infective endocarditis, which accounts for 5-6% of all cases. A. defectiva is characteristically difficult to diagnose and the mortality, morbidity and complication rates are high. Here, we discuss a case of infective endocarditis caused by A. defectiva. A 62-year-old female had previously undergone prosthetic valve replacement 6 years prior to admission. She developed infective endocarditis after tooth extraction. Her endocarditis was successfully treated with antimicrobial therapy and mitral valve replacement surgery. This is the first case of infective endocarditis caused by A. defectiva reported in Korea. This case shows that A. defectiva could be considered as a causative organism of infective endocarditis in Korea.

Keywords: Abiotrophia defectiva; infective endocarditis.

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Conflict of interest statement

No conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Transesophageal echocardiography performed the day after admission. (A) Long-axis view (135°) of a transesophageal echocardiography showing two examples of vegetation attached to the prosthetic mitral valve. The larger one measures 0.7 ☓ 0.5 cm (large arrow head) and the smaller one measures 0.5 ☓ 0.3 cm (small arrow head). (B) Two-chamber view (59°) of a transesophageal echocardiography (zoomed view) showing vegetation attached to the prosthetic mitral valve (arrowhead). A color Doppler shows the jet flow with mild transvalvular mitral regurgitation in systole (arrow). LA, left atrium; LV, left ventricle; RV, right ventricle.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Colony and microscopic characteristics of Abiotrophia defective. Tiny, non-hemolytic colonies on a blood agar plate (ASAN Pharmaceutical, Hwaseong, Korea) after 48 hour of incubation at 35°C with 5% CO2 (left), and pleomorphic Gram-positive cocci from smear preparation of the blood agar plate (Gram stain, ×1,000, right).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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