Infective endocarditis

Infective endocarditis (IE) is a severe bacterial infection of the endocardial surface of the heart; it usually involves damaged or synthetic heart valves. Improvement in surgical and medical therapeutics have been encouraging, however, if managed poorly it can still have a poor prognosis. In the developed world, rheumatic heart disease is an uncommon risk factor whereas intravenous drug use, degenerative valvular disease in the elderly population and use of prosthetic heart valves are becoming more common. In terms of the microbiological cause of IE, Staphylococcus aureus is the most common cause in the Western world. It is therefore important for GPs to be aware of and be able to identify these risk factors. This article aims to examine the pathophysiology, risk factors, changing trends in epidemiology and recent guidelines on the management of IE.