EVALUATION OF INFECTIVE ENDOCARDITIS IN THE
PEDIATRIC POPULATION
SOLTANZADEH M.H.
Department
of pediatrics, Imam Hossain Medical center, School of Medicine of Shahid
Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
Bacterial Endocarditis is a mysterious
and dangerous disease in peddiatrics. Even with aggressive antibiotic
therapy between 20% to 25% and in more serious cases from 50% to 60%
mortality rate has been documented. For this reason, this study was
designed to evaluate the factors and conditions influencing the occurrence
and the prognosis of this disease. This study was designed to evaluate the
existing data of 40 patients with age groups of below 14 years who had
diagnosis of Bacterial Endocarditis from 1990 to 1995 at the Medical
Centers of the School of Medicine of shaheed Beheshti University, Tehran,
Iran. The findings revealed
that 60% of the cases were females.
Congenital Heart Diseases were the most common predisposing to
bacterial Endocarditis with 66% of the cases. Blood Culture was positive in 27.5% of the cases with
the most common pathogens being Staphylococcus Viridance 27.2%. The ESR rate of above 20 was
observed in 77.5% of the cases.
Leukocyte count of above 10000 was observed in 67.5% of the cases
and CRP was positive in 55% of the cases. The most common symptoms were
fever and heart murmurs, which were observed in 97.5 percent of the cases
respectively. Due to the
relative high incidence of Congenital Heart Disease and their
predisposition to Bacterial Endocarditis, more attention should be paid to
prevention and the reduction in the incidence of disease.