Infective endocarditis in a racially mixed community: a 10 year review of 78 cases.

Over a 10 year period, 78 cases of infective endocarditis were seen at a general hospital serving a multiracial community. There was a bimodal distribution by age and by race. Rheumatic heart disease was a predisposing factor in 45% of cases and was particularly common in young Polynesians. Only eight patients had undergone procedures which might have caused bacteraemia. Most cases were due to streptococci (67%) or staphylococci (27%). Eighteen of 78 patients (23%) died in hospital, usually as a result of overwhelming sepsis or neurological complications. The 60 discharged have been followed for an average of almost three years. There have been 11 deaths but only two related to the previous endocarditis. Three of 41 patients infected with viridans streptococci died. There were no relapses and only one microbiological failure due to these organisms. All 14 patients with viridans streptococcal endocarditis treated with combined therapy for two weeks were cured. Ten of 16 cases of Staph aureus endocarditis were fatal. All but one involved the left side of the heart. The series included no intravenous drug abusers. Sixteen cases of endocarditis involved prosthetic valves and in this group the mortality, frequency of complications and need for surgery were significantly more frequent than in those with native valve infection.