Be careful about MICs to amoxicillin for patients with Streptococci-related infective endocarditis.

BACKGROUND

A variety of microorganisms can cause infective endocarditis (IE), with Staphylococci and Streptococci accounting for the majority of cases. Streptococci are a common cause of community-acquired IE but few studies have focused on this subgroup of endocarditis.

METHODS

A retrospective multicentre study was conducted between 2012 and 2017 in 12 hospital centres in France. Data were extracted from the local diagnosis-related group database and matched with microbiological results. After identification, the records were retrospectively analysed.

RESULTS

A total of 414 patients with streptococcal endocarditis were included. The patients were predominantly male (72.8%) and the median age was 73.2 years (interquartile range [IQR] 61.3-80.9). The majority of patients (70.6%) had native valve endocarditis. Embolic complications were seen in 38.8% of patients. Viridans group Streptococci (VGS) and bovis-equinus group Streptococci (BGS) accounted for 52.4% and 34.5% of isolated strains, respectively. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of amoxicillin were <0.125, 0.125-2 and >2 mg/L for 59.6%, 27% and 1% of isolates, respectively. In-hospital mortality for patients with Streptococci-related IE was 17.8%. In multivariate analysis, the only factor associated with in-hospital mortality was MIC for amoxicillin between 0.25 and 2 mg/L (P = 0.04; OR = 2.23 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03-4.88]) whereas performance of cardiac surgery for IE was a protective factor (P = 0.001, OR = 0.23 [95% CI 0.1-0.56]).

CONCLUSIONS

IE remains a serious and deadly disease despite recent advances in diagnosis and treatment. Adaptation of antibiotic doses to MICs for amoxicillin and surgery may improve patient outcome.