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Vasileios Patris, Orestis Argiriou, Charalampos Konstantinou, Niki Lama, Haris Georgiou, Emmanouil Katsanevakis, Mihalis Argiriou, Christos Charitos
(Department of Cardiac Surgery, Heart and Chest Hospital, Liverpool, United Kingdom)
Am J Case Rep 2014; 15:352-354
DOI: 10.12659/AJCR.890855
Background:
Although Corynebacterium diphtheriae is well known for causing diphtheria and other respiratory tract infections, in very rare cases it can lead to severe systemic disease.
Case Report:
This is a case of a previously healthy young man (no prosthetic valve in situ or other known congenital defect), presenting with a Corynebacterium diphtheriae infection leading to endocarditis. The patient reported no I.V. drug use, so it can be assumed that no risk factors for infective endocarditis were present.
Conclusions:
This report aims to raise suspicion for this specific infection in order to proceed with the right treatment as soon as possible.