Introduction: In the pre-antibiotic era up 10% of cases of infective endocarditis were due to Streptococcus pneumoniae, but this association is currently exceedingly rare.
Case description: Since 1997 we have diagnosed three patients, all aged >70, with endocarditis due to S. pneumoniae. One of these three cases involved a prosthetic valve, another a prosthetic ring. All three patients completely recovered with antibiotic treatment only.
Discussion and evaluation: During the same period there were 1694 cases of pneumococcal bacteremia, of whom 395 (23%) after age 70. Therefore, after age 70 the prevalence of endocarditis out of all cases of pneumococcal bacteremia was 0.7%. A literature review detected another 16 cases of pneumococcal PVE. The mean age of these 17 patients was 64±14; 10 were female and 7 male. In most instances, symptom duration was short, < 6 days. Valve surgery was performed in 5 cases (29%) and 13 patients (76%) survived.
Conclusions: Endocarditis due to S. pneumoniae is rare in the antibiotic era; even in patients with prosthetic valves its course is evidently not more virulent than with other low-virulent organisms.
Keywords: Infective endocarditis; Mitral valve replacement; Prosthetic valve endocarditis; Streptococcus pneumoniae.