Bartonella endocarditis mimicking adult Still's disease

We describe the case of a 39-year-old Caucasian woman who was admitted to the University Hospital of Antwerp with a clinical picture suggestive of adult Still's disease. Even though a transoesophageal echocardiography showed endocarditis of the aortic valve, blood cultures remained negative. Ad...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Acta clinica belgica (English ed. Online) 2008-05, Vol.63 (3), p.190-192
Main Authors: De Clerck, K F, Van Offel, J F, Vlieghe, E, Van Marck, E, Stevens, W J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Bartonella henselae - genetics
Bartonella henselae - isolation & purification
Bartonella Infections - diagnosis
Bartonella Infections - microbiology
Biopsy
Diagnosis, Differential
DNA, Bacterial - analysis
Echocardiography, Transesophageal
Endocarditis, Bacterial - diagnosis
Endocarditis, Bacterial - microbiology
Female
Humans
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Still's Disease, Adult-Onset - diagnosis
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We describe the case of a 39-year-old Caucasian woman who was admitted to the University Hospital of Antwerp with a clinical picture suggestive of adult Still's disease. Even though a transoesophageal echocardiography showed endocarditis of the aortic valve, blood cultures remained negative. Additional serological testing revealed a positive result for Bartonella henselae. Histology of the supraclavicular lymph node showed a reactive lymph node with a positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for Bartonella henselae. Prednisolone treatment was started in a dosage of 10 mg per day and rifampicin 600 mg/d in combination with doxycyclin 200 mg/d was given for 6 months. During therapy the patient gradually improved and signs of endocarditis disappeared on echocardiography.
ISSN:1784-3286
2295-3337
DOI:10.1179/acb.2008.030