Etiology of Bacterial Endocarditis

Abstract

All 240 attacks in 234 patients with bacterial endocarditis proven by positive blood cultures during the past 30 years at University Hospitals of Cleveland were analyzed. There has been a definite decrease in the number of cases, but the greatest reduction occurred prior to the introduction of penicillin. Since 1943 the average age of the patients has risen, but there has been little change in the continuing predominance of males. There has been a reduction in the incidence of streptococcal etiology with complete disappearance of pneumococci, while the staphylococci have been isolated almost 3 times as often in this disease since the advent of antibiotics. Gram-negative and fungal organisms have emerged and become more prevalent This alteration in causative organisms reflects the changes occurring in the patients who fail to survive, since there has been no significant shift in the etiology of the nonfatal cases.