What can cause Endocarditis?

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ALCapshaw2

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Joined
Mar 20, 2003
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North Alabama
A neighbor's daughter was being treated for Pneumonia for 2 weeks when her Doctor's finally decided that it wasn't Pneumonia.

They then discovered her heart was "only functioning at 30%" (I'm guessing that was her Ejection Fraction) and she was in CHF. The neighbor thought she had a "virus" that attacked her heart. I'm guessing Endocarditis. They said it was not contagious.

That got me to wondering.

Besides Dental Procedures, what things can lead to Endocarditis and how long does it take for Endocarditis to cause serious damage to the heart?

Also, what can be done to Save one's Heart if Endocarditis rears it's ugly head and how soon does treatment need to be started? (i.e. shoud we get checked for endo whenever we have a cold or sore throat or whatever?)

'AL Capshaw'
 
Hi Al,
Very good topic. I was wondering some of the same myself. The only thing the dr has told me when I start to feel feverish,coughing alot,or when colds don't go away, I'm to call him to get on an antibiotic. He said it can lead to valve problems right away and we would have to stay on top of it. Any more information you can get would be appreciated. :)
 
Dental procedures are a common cause, as it's an easy way for bacteria to get in there and lead to endocarditis. With the rise of 'superbugs' in hospitals pretty much any other invasive procedures can put you at some risk.

My tussle with endocarditis started with a botched pacemaker replacement.

'What can be done to save ones heart?' difficult one that Al. The answer is caught up in finding an effective antibiotic regime to repel the bacteria. As the bacteria are smart they have a nasty habit of evolving and rendering many antibiotics useless.
 
CThrock said:
Hi Al,
Very good topic. I was wondering some of the same myself. The only thing the dr has told me when I start to feel feverish,coughing alot,or when colds don't go away,
Click to expand...

Well, that answers one of my questions.
But how in the heck do you pronounce 'endocarditis" - just can't get my tongue
around this one - and its seems people pronounce differently.
 
This is just a further little piece of the puzzle: the book Your Heart: an Owner's Guide by Elefteriades and Cohen of Yale, has several mentions of virus as a cause of heart failure. He says that a common cold virus gets into the heart of a very small percentage of people and can destroy the heart, accounting for about half of the cases of heart failure. I don't know whether such an infection would be called endocarditis. He refers to it as idiopathic cardiomyopathy. That may be the story of your young neighbor.
 
It can be caused in a number of ways. Mine was a rare cause, that is to say having lithotripsy (laser treatment to break up kidney stones) causing endocarditis.

Dental treatment or decay is probably a very major cause. It can be caused by fungus as well as bacteria.
 
The way I've always heard it pronounced (spelled phonetically?) -

IN DOE CAR DIE' TISS.

Mine was caused by strep/rheumatic fever and was called Bacterial Endocarditis. Hospital infections introduced through IVs, catheters, and pacemakers are common causes of Endocarditis. Apparently intravenous drug use is a common way to get it as well. It's pretty uncommon in people with healthy hearts. I had it as part of Rheumatic Fever and I always assumed that it caused my valve problem. However, after reading about it a little more, I now think the Rheumatic Fever caused the valve problem and Endocarditis caused the vegetation on the damaged valve. Mine were just so close together that it's difficult to separate it into two separate diseases.

Here's what is says on the Mayo Clinic site:

Risk factors

If your heart is healthy, you're unlikely to develop endocarditis. Even most types of heart disease don't increase the risk of endocarditis. The organisms that cause infection tend to adhere to and multiply only in malformed, damaged or surgically implanted heart valves.
 
Bacteria seems to be the major cause, although I have heard cases of a virus causing it. Actually, the word endocarditis means inflammation of the inside of the heart. I had sub-acute bacterial endocarditis caused by streptoccocus virdans (sp??) which comes from the mouth/teeth. It was not because of a dental appointment. My gum must have bled a little (which happens from time to time and now I panic every time).

The microbiolgist that treated me for endocarditis said that if I ever had an unexplained fever (not accompanied by a cold or the flu, etc.) for more than a day or two, to get it checked out.
 
If it is a virus I think it could be myocarditis, a inflammation of the heart muscle tissue, whereas endocarditis effects the surface of the inside of the heart.
 
Lisa in Katy said:
Here's what is says on the Mayo Clinic site:

Risk factors

If your heart is healthy, you're unlikely to develop endocarditis. Even most types of heart disease don't increase the risk of endocarditis. The organisms that cause infection tend to adhere to and multiply only in malformed, damaged or surgically implanted heart valves.
Click to expand...

That last sentence will be of interest of many of our members!
 
any infection can turn into endocarditis, thats why we need to keep tabs on our colds and wounds and stuff, but this does not merit overuse of antibiotics, the reason the guidelines were recently changed is that prophylactic antibiotics arent that effective against endocarditis, except in very high risk situations. the medical community is re-thinking the amount of antibiotics that they are prescribing because of the recent surge in resistant strains of bacteria.

in my oppinion (read: check with your doc I am not a medical professional, nor did I sleep at a holiday inn last night) the main indication to get checked out for endocarditis is fever of unknown origin, any more than 2 days and I would call my doc and do something, I dont think we need to be checked for endocarditis after every cold, etc, but my docs seem to think that its better to be safe than sorry, if I have a cold or whatever thats lasting unusually long its a good idea for me to go on antibiotics (I also dont have much reserve)

big thing to take home from this is viral infections attacking the heart are totally different from endocarditis, antibiotics arent going to help with a virus, and alot of times these viruses settle in normal peoples hearts, its not necessarily in the endocardium (lining of the heart) more likely in the muscle, which is likely why her EF was reduced (EF is normally not really affected by valve issues till they are advanced, chronic, and cause heart muscle damage, such as enlargement)

hope this helps

morgan
 
Bina said:
I have always taken pre-dental-work antibs with my stenotic valve. 20 yrs worth!
Click to expand...

Bina, I did too, not 20 years but 6 or 8 or so. They recently changed the rules .... no more anti-biotics for stenotic native valves, but keep taking them for mechanical. I am not sure about non-native tissue ones.
 
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