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Case Reports
Two Cases of Haemophilus parainfluenzae endocarditis
Kum Hei Ryu, M.D., Hee Jung Choi M.D., Si Hoon Park M.D., Seong-Hoon Park M.D. and Mi Ae Lee M.D.*
Departments of Internal Medicine and Laboratory Medicine*, Ewha Womans University Medical School, Seoul, Korea
Vol.35 Num.5 (p345~349)
HACEK organisms are the normal flora of upper respiratory tract and orophaynx. They infect abnormal cardiac valves, causing subacute native valve endocarditis or prosthetic valve endocarditis more than one year after valve surgery. Haemophilus species are responsible for only 0.5-1% of all infectious endocarditis cases. Embolization occurs in 60% and the mortality rate ranges from 16-45% of cases of infective endocarditis caused by H. parainfluenzae. We report two cases of H. parainfluenzae endocarditis, one of them is a 25-year-old male with tricuspid valve vegetations complicated with pulmonary embolism and the other is a 22-year-old female presented with heart failure.
Keywords : Haemophilus parainfluenzae, HACEK, Infective endocarditis