Burkholderia cepacia: A Rare Source of Endocarditis.

Abstract

A 37-year-old male with a past medical history of previous mitral valve replacement due to bacterial endocarditis and intravenous (IV) drug use was found to have Burkholderia cepacia bacteremia. Transesophageal echocardiogram revealed large mitral and tricuspid valve vegetations. Medical management was initially attempted but his bacteremia persisted, and he required urgent prosthetic mitral valve replacement and native tricuspid valve replacement. Prosthetic valve endocarditis has been associated with surgery in 48.9% of patients and a mortality of 22.8%. In patients with prosthetic valve endocarditis due to B. cepacia, valve replacement occurred in approximately 61.5% of patients and mortality is estimated to be 33.3%. To our knowledge, this is one of only a few prosthetic valve endocarditis cases caused solely by B. cepacia and our case is the first to affect multiple valves including prosthetic and native valves.