Bacterial Endocarditis diagnosis caused by dental abscess/procedures - advice on continued treatment?

Is rapid regrowth possible and I need further treatment?





I have had dental work from Jan - June 07. I was told about a draining abcess 5 months ago. I don't know how long infection was present. Have been sick on/off with food poisenting type symptons. I went to the Er and was treated and released. Blood culture returned positive for blood infection. 48 hours later hospital calls me to return. More blood cultures taken. Echocardiogram was taken and I was admitted with notes of mitro valve prolapse and possible Bacterial Endocarditis. Vancomyicin was given with reaction and stopped, then gentomycin was given. Lastly Nafcillin was given, but I also had a reaction. I was taken off IV. The hospital misplaced the echocardigram for 5 days. By the time the new blood cultures and IV are repeated then reads negative. After 8 days and a negative reading the insurance co boots me out. Priliminary yesterday says no vegitation. I am waiting for the final report. I still don't feel well.

Bacterial Endocarditis diagnosis caused by dental abscess/procedures - advice on continued treatment?
Bacterial endocarditis is usually fatal without treatment. You are lucky you were correctly diagnosed, and you did not have to wait for autopsy. There were no vegitations present so you do not know if there is actual heart valve damage. The reason to investigate the mitral valve is that at that time they did not know of the infection. The infection is gone, and it will take some time for you to come back to full function. In the meantime you should have at min. a echo and determine is there is any heart valve damage or any other sequela.
Reply:This is a life threatening condition that needs to be followed up on. Any time you have problems with your valves - and you will for the rest of your life - you will have to take antibiotics prophylactically for any invasive procedures. ie dental work, surgeries, etc. You need to call your physician tomorrow and set up a game plan and tell him/her that you are still feeling bad and find out what the next step is, as something needs to be done immediately for this.

Yellow Teeth