A Case of Endocarditis due to Coxiella burnetii

Abstract

A 36-year-old male patient, who was an agricultural farmer and had a diagnosis of bicuspid aortic valve and coarctation, was admitted with symptoms of fever, fatigue, and shortness of breath that lasted for a month, in March 2017. Examination revealed dyspnea and bilateral rales and rhonchi in lung auscultation. A 3/6 systolic murmur was heard in the mesocardiac focus. The laboratory tests showed a white blood cell count of 15.14×103/µl, erythrocyte sedimentation rate of 36 mm/h, and C-reactive protein of 26 mg/l. An echocardiogram showed mobile vegetation (30×10 mm) on the aortic valve and severe aortic and tricuspid valve insufficiency. All blood cultures that are taken from the patient with the diagnosis of infective endocarditis were negative and C. burnetii phase I IgG antibody was positive at 1/32768 titer. As far as we know, herein, we present a case of endocarditis due to C. burnetii, which is the third case that is reported in Turkey.

Keywords

• culture-negative endocarditis
• zoonotic infection