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Unusual presentation of more common disease/injury
CASE REPORT
An aggressive form of Haemophilus parainfluenzae infective endocarditis presenting with limb weakness
  1. Naina McCann1,
  2. Mohamad Fahed Barakat2,
  3. Frank Schafer3
  1. 1 Department of Infectious Diseases, University College London Hospital, London, UK
  2. 2 School of Cardiovascular Medicine & Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
  3. 3 Department of Cardiology, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Naina McCann, naina.mccann{at}gmail.com

Summary

We present the case of a 49-year-old man with a bicuspid aortic valve who presented to the emergency department with limb weakness and a fever. Blood tests revealed a fulminant septic process with Haemophilus parainfluenzae bacteraemia, anaemia and thrombocytopenia. Imaging revealed a cervical spinal abscess and discitis causing spinal cord compression, in addition to multiple cerebral septic emboli, pleural effusions and ascites. A transoesophageal echocardiogram (TOE) performed post decompression of his spinal collection showed native aortic valve endocarditis with an associated large aortic root abscess. He underwent successful aortic valve surgery and a 6-week course of antibiotic therapy and made an excellent clinical recovery with no long-term complications from his condition.

  • infectious diseases
  • cardiovascular medicine
  • valvar diseases
  • cardiothoracic surgery

https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2017-223775

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors NM performed the research and write-up of the case report. MFB was responsible for the planning and initiation of the project as well as obtaining all the relevant clinical information on the case. FS obtained the echocardiographic images, supervised the project and edited the write-up.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.