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Ency. home > Disease > C > Culture-negative endocarditis

Culture-negative endocarditis   

Overview | Symptoms | Treatment

Alternative names:

Endocarditis (culture-negative)

Definition:

"Culture-negative endocarditis" means no causitive organisms grew in a culture taken from the bloodstream despite the presence of endocarditis (infection and inflammation of the lining of a valve in the heart). This sometimes occurs when blood cultures are drawn after treatment (antibiotics) is already initiated, or if the culprit organism is a fastidious organism that is difficult to grow in readily available culture media in the microbiological laboratory.

The valves may have been previously scarred by, for example, rheumatic fever during childhood, or are congenitally different (such as a bicuspid aortic valve) and are prone to having bacteria and "vegetations" land and grow on them, often causing a disturbance to the mechanical working of the heart.

Ency. home > Disease > C > Culture-negative endocarditis

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