4- infective endocarditis and other cardiac conditions Flashcards
what are bacteraemias?
viable bacteria that is found in blood (blood is supposed to be sterile)
are all bacteraemias clinically significant?
no - some can just be because skin hasn’t been adequately cleansed or because technique isn’t good
bacteraemia that cause endocarditis for example need 6 weeks antibiotics - some bacteraemia need no treatment
what is important in blood culture collection?
has to be very good technique and very sterile to make sure that results are correct
what happens with the blood after blood culture?
blood cultures go off to lab and into automated machine and colour change indicates positive blood culture. from that the lab will take sample and try grow bug and do molecular tests to find the name of the molecular bug, this involves a gram stain. usually takes about 2 days to get results
why is it important to know what sites bugs infect at?
different bugs like to cause infection at different sites (the significance of positive culture depends on whether you expect that bug to cause disease at that site)
- if bug relevant to site, you then decide what antibiotic is best
why it important to take right amount of blood for blood culture?
if too little you may miss the infection
= you want many blood cultures positive with same bug
if 1 positive and rest negative more likely to be contaminant
if all positive then more likely to be bug
what is endocarditis?
infection of inner lining of muscles - continuous with lining of blood vessels
life threatening (up to 25% mortality)
what does acute & subacute endocarditis mean?
acute = aggressive or virulent
subacute = slow onset (easy to miss)
what does endocarditis look like on echocardiogram?
looks like cauliflowers on valves
what are predisposing factors for endocarditis?
- heart valve abnormality = calcification/sclerosis in elderly, congenital heart disease, post rheumatic fever (more likely to have abnormal valve)
- Prosthetic heart valve
- People who inject drugs (you’re acting endothelium a lot)
- Intravascular lines (like people on dialysis who have lines)
what is transient bacteraemia and when can it be damaging?
have no consequence normally but if foreign things in body then they can see bacteria
what is pathogenesis of infective endocarditis? (things you need)
- damaged valve
- turbulent blood flow & roughened endothelium
- platelets/fibrin deposited
- bacteraemia (may be very transient) e.g. from dental treatment in high risk patients
- organisms settle in fibrin/platelet thrombi becoming a microbial vegetation
how does infected vegetations cause problems in different areas?
they are friable and break off and then lodge into next capillary bed
if infective endocarditis in right side of heart that becomes friable and breaks off, where most commonly will it cause problems?
kidneys and brain etc
if infective endocarditis in right side of heart that becomes friable and breaks off, where most commonly will it cause problems?
in lung bed - causing lots of septic pulmonary emboli
what are the most important organisms for infective endocarditis
- Staph aureus = 38% (more virulent and more likely to affect native bugs)
- viridans group streptococci = 31%
- enterococcus sp = 8%
- staphylococcus epidermis = 6% (more likely when prosthetic valve, not as virulent as staph aureus)
how many sets of blood culture should you take? and why?
Take 3 sets of blood cultures -very important since if all are positive there is good evidence of continuing bacteraemia. If only one set taken and is positive might be a contaminant. Better clinical outcome when causative organism is identified
each set has 2 bloods
should antibiotics be given before or after blood cultures?
blood cultures always before - antibiotics after
what should you do if blood culture negatives?
consider serology for atypical organisms (in people that really sound like symptoms for infective endocarditis)
what are atypical organisms?
bugs that cause culture negative endocarditis
what are some examples of atypical unusual organisms that can cause infective endocarditis?
coxiella burnetii (Q fever) = farm animals is classic exposure (IMPORTANT ONE)
also can be bartonella, chlamydia, legionella, mycoplasma, brucella, gram negative HACEK organisms and funghi (usually in immunosuppressed people and very difficult to treat)
what is reason for blood cultures?
to identify the bug to then put patient on most efficient antibiotic for that particular bug
what is Duke’s criteria?
criteria to try and decide if patient has endocarditis (as can be very tricky)
major criteria = 2 separate +ve blood culture, echo with evidence, new valvular regurgitation
minor criteria = - predisposing heart condition, temp greater than 38, vascular phenomena, immunological phenomena, microbiological evidence
*don’t worry about it too much
how to diagnose Q fever? (culture negative)
blood test to check if right ratio of antibodies
what is important systematic approach to diagnosing infective endocarditis?
- need right history
- right blood culture
- right imaging
generally how quickly does each bacteria onset?
staph aureus = quick onset, a couple of days
viridans strep = happens much more slowly, over a couple of weeks
what is a hint to staph epidermidis endocarditis?
in someone with prosthetic valve
what test distinguishes between staphylococcus?
coagulase test
coagulase +ve = staph aureus
coagulase -ve = staph epidermidis