Endocarditis bacteriana por Kocuria kristinae en un paciente inmunocompetente. Reporte de caso

Abstract

Members of the genus Kocuria correspond to ubiquitous, generally harmless, Gram-positive cocci that are part of the saprophytic flora of a significant percentage of the population; occasionally they have been described as the agents responsible for infectious pathologies, mainly in the context of patients who concomitantly have chronic diseases and are under an immunosuppression state. There are few cases reported as a cause of endocarditis in immunocompetent patients globally by species of this genus. We present the case of a 44-year-old immunocompetent woman, with no relevant history, in whom only the microbiological diagnosis confirmed the presence of Kocuria kristinae as the causative agent of her infectious endocarditis; Literature points out the difficulty existing when differentiating endocarditis produced by Staphylococcus spp. versus Kocuria kristinae because of their similar clinical evolution, indicating the importance of microbiology when identifying and diagnosing accurately.

Keywords

• bacterial endocarditis
• kocuria kristinae
• immunocompetent