Hello and welcome to the zero to finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be

talking to you about infective endocarditis. And you can find written notes on this topic at

0.0.2.com slash infective endocarditis or in the cardiology section of the second edition of the zero to finals

medicine book. So let's get straight into it. Infective endocarditis refers to infection of the

endothelium, the inner surface of the heart.

Most commonly, it affects the heart valves.

It can be acute, subacute or chronic, depending on how rapidly and acutely the symptoms present and the causative organism.

Let's talk about the risk factors.

The key risk factors for infective endocarditis are intravenous drug use, structural heart pathology, and we'll talk in more detail about that shortly,

chronic kidney disease, particularly patients on dialysis, immunocompromised patients, for example, with cancer, HIV or immunosuppressive

medications, and a past history of infective endocarditis. Structural pathology can increase

the risk of endocarditis, including structural heart disease, congenital heart

disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, prosthetic heart valves, and implantable cardiac devices,

for example, pacemakers.

Let's go through the causes.

The most common cause is Staphylococcus aureus.

Other causative organisms include streptococcus, notably the Viridans group of streptocococci,

enteroccus, for example enterococcus fecalis, and rarer causes including pseudomonas, hakech organisms and fungi.

Let's talk about the presentation.

The presenting symptoms are non-specific, indicating an infection.

For example, fever, fatigue, night sweats, muscle aches and anorexia,

which is loss of appetite. Key examination findings are a new or typically changing murmur,

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