ABSTRACT
Endocarditis due to anaerobic bacteria is a rare entity. Over the past three decades, 2% to 16% of all cases of infectious endocarditis (IE) involved anaerobes.1-4
MICROBIOLOGY The predominant organisms causing endocarditis are streptococci (mostly viridans streptococci and enterococci), Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, enteric bacteria, and fungi.5,6 No organisms are recovered in 5% to 10% of cases of endocarditis.7 Most of these cases where no organisms are recovered involve patients who received prior antibiotic therapy, but occasionally endocarditis is due to fastidious organisms such as anaerobic bacteria as well as to Haemophilus aphrophilus, Cardiobacterium hominis, Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, Eikenella corrodens, and Kingella kingae.
