[Misunderstood symptoms in patients with infectious endocarditis].

Infectious endocarditis was diagnosed in four patients, men aged 18, 44, 35 and 22; the bacteria involved were Streptococcus viridans, Eikenella corrodens, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus mutans, respectively. In all patients mycotic aneurysms were observed which had led to seemingly unrelated neurological or abdominal complaints. In one patient an aneurysm of the A. cerebri media resolved in two years, another patient died following fatal bleeding of a ruptured aneurysm in the A. hepatica propria. Mycotic aneurysms may be found in all parts of the body. This complication is often diagnosed too late because it is not considered.