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Spondylodiskitis and endocarditis due to Streptococcus gordonii
Ziv Dadon1, Assaf Cohen2, Yael M Szterenlicht2
1Department of Internal Medicine A, Shaare Zedek Medical Medicine, Affiliated with the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel.
Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials
|October 6, 2017
Summary
Streptococcus gordonii can cause infective endocarditis (IE) and spondylodiskitis. This study highlights that spondylodiskitis may present as severe back pain in patients with S. gordonii IE, requiring longer antibiotic treatment.
Area of Science:
- Infectious Diseases
- Cardiology
- Orthopedics
Background:
- Streptococcus gordonii is an uncommon cause of infective endocarditis (IE).
- Spondylodiskitis associated with S. gordonii IE has not been previously described in medical literature.
Observation:
- Two patients presented with severe back pain, later diagnosed with S. gordonii bacteremia, infective endocarditis, and spondylodiskitis.
- A review of 15 S. gordonii bacteremia cases over 20 years revealed IE as the most common diagnosis (9 patients), with spondylodiskitis in 2 patients.
Findings:
- Infective endocarditis was diagnosed in 9 out of 15 patients with S. gordonii bacteremia.
- The two patients with spondylodiskitis and IE required 2-3 months of intravenous antibiotics for a complete cure.
- Spondylodiskitis was the presenting symptom in 18% of S. gordonii endocarditis cases.
Implications:
- Spondylodiskitis should be considered in patients with S. gordonii endocarditis presenting with back pain.
- Longer antibiotic treatment durations may be necessary for S. gordonii spondylodiskitis and endocarditis.
- This study expands the clinical spectrum of S. gordonii infections and highlights a rare but serious presentation.
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