Lactobacillus acidophilus is a gram-positive rod that is a commensal of human mucosal tissues. They are usually considered nonpathogenic flora of the mouth, gut, and female genital tract. Lactobacillus is a rare cause of endocarditis with less than 50 cases reported in the world literature to date. We report the case of a 63-year-old woman who developed native mitral valve endocarditis secondary to L. acidophilus, and examine the literature regarding this rare entity.

Actinomyces israelii is a gram-positive bacillus that is rarely associated with infections in the general population. A. israelii belongs to the normal flora of the body and it rarely becomes pathogenic. Cardiac involvement is rare and in most cases involves the pericardium. Fewer than 20 cases of pericardial actinomycosis have been reported in the literature since 1950. We report the case of a 75-year-old man with a history of coronary artery disease with recent myocardial infarction and stent placement, atrial fibrillation, and recent colonic perforation with subsequent colectomy/colostomy who presented to our hospital with a 2-week history of left-sided chest pain. Workup revealed the presence of a pericardial effusion and pericarditis. Pericardial fluid analysis demonstrated A. israelii. An examination and discussion of the literature is performed regarding this rare manifestation of human actinomycosis.

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Listeria monocytogenes is a gram-positive bacillus that is rarely associated with infections in the general population. Those susceptible to this pathogen include neonates, pregnant women, and the immunocompromised. The most common clinical manifestations of listeriosis are bacteremia and meningitis. Endocarditis caused by L. monocytogenes is rare with less than 60 cases reported in the world literature. We report the case of an 81-year-old man who suffered aortic prosthetic valve listeria endocarditis, and examine the literature regarding this rare manifestation of human listeriosis.

We compare real-world, extended target vessel revascularization (TVR)-free survival following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for patients receiving either sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) or paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES) following an index drug-eluting stent (DES) supported procedure. We analyzed 2,363 consecutive patients having first DES-supported PCI at receiving PES (n = 1,012) or SES (n = 1,332) from April 2004 to July 2006. Baseline clinical and procedural characteristics and in-hospital outcomes were recorded during the time of the index procedure and extended clinical outcomes data were obtained thereafter. TVR and all cause mortality were identified during the study period. Adjusted Kaplan-Meier and Cox's proportional hazard survival methods were performed. TVR-free survival at 2.3 years was 91.3% for SES compared with 88.9% for PES (P = 0.06). Kaplan-Meier survival curves did not significantly differ (adjusted hazard ratio -1.39 [95% CI 0.99-1.97]) between the SES and PES patient cohorts. TVR was similar between the stent platforms at one (96.6% for SES [95% CI 95.3-97.6] vs. 95.7% for PES [95% CI 94.1-96.9]) and two (95.0%[95% CI 93.0-96.4] for SES vs. 93.7% for PES [95% CI 91.6-95.3]) years. Overall survival at 2 years was 96.2% for SES (95% CI 94.7-97.3) and 95.3% for PES (95% CI 93.7-96.5). SES and PES drug-eluting stent platforms have good and similar extended outcomes in this real world registry of unselected patients having PCI.