ABSTRACT
This chapter, along with the following one, presents the distinctive properties of the principal organisms that are involved in infective endocarditis (IE) in the era of intravascular devices. In the last 10 years, there has been a significant increase in our knowledge of the pathogenesis of IE. Much has been learned of the manner in which pathogens infect both native tissues and prosthetic devices of all types. Much remains to be discovered. Hopefully, this expanded knowledge base will provide targets for antimicrobial therapy that were not even dreamed of about a decade ago. Later chapters examine the interaction of specific pathogens and the host that results in varied presentations of native and prosthetic valve endocarditis.
