A case of infective endocarditis caused by Bartonella quintana: prolonged mild symptoms and a sudden life-threatening complication

The morbidity and mortality associated with infective endocarditis can be significantly reduced by early diagnosis and initiation of effective therapy. Due to the often nonspecific prosaic symptoms associated with infective endocarditis, patients are likely to seek initial medical care from their primary care physicians. The authors present the history of a patient suffering from indolent prolonged illness with moderate fever who developed painless macrohematuria and triple valve endocarditis with Bartonella quintana .T his pathogen is a gram-negative bacterium responsible for the epidemic louse-borne trench-fever seen in Europe during World War I and particularly seen as an infectious