Chronic endocarditis due to Legionella anisa: a first case difficult to diagnose

Abstract

Endocarditis due to Legionella spp. is uncommon but presumably underestimated given the prevalence of Legionellae in the environment. We report a first and unusual case of chronic native valve endocarditis due to L. anisa and advocate that the diagnosis of endocarditis be made collaboratively between the cardiologist, surgeon, microbiologist and pathologist.

Keywords

• 16S rDNA PCR
• diagnosis
• endocarditis
• histologic analysis
• Legionella