title: Neisseria elongata endocarditis of a native aortic valve.
abstract: Neisseria elongata is a part of the common bacterial flora of the oropharynx but has caused sepsis, osteomyelitis and infective endocarditis on rare occasions. We report the case of a 56-year-old Caucasian woman who was admitted to hospital with a 5-week history of fever, malaise and fatigue. Two blood cultures grew Gram-negative rods which were confirmed to be N. elongata subspecies nitroreducens via bacterial DNA sequence analysis. An echocardiogram showed a large mobile vegetation on the right and non-coronary cusps of the aortic valve. The patient underwent aortic valve replacement and antibiotic therapy for 6 weeks. We suggest that clinicians should consider extended antibiotic treatment and early surgical evaluation based on the nature and aggressiveness of N. elongata.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Samannodi
authors.affiliation: University at Buffalo, Buffalo, USA.
authors.forename: Sujit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vakkalanka
authors.affiliation: University at Buffalo, Buffalo, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: University at Buffalo, Buffalo, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hocko
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004697:Endocarditis, Bacterial / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006350:Heart Valve Prosthesis; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D042805:Neisseria elongata / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016870:Neisseriaceae Infections / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D004269:DNA, Bacterial