A pediatric case of Cardiobacterium hominis endocarditis

Abstract

Gram negative endocarditis is relatively rare in pediatrics but when they occur they are most frequently caused by one of the HACEK (Haemophilus species, Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, C. hominis, Eikenella corrodens and Kingella kingae) group of microorganisms. Within the HACEK group of microorganisms there have been approximately 100 cases of Cardiobacterium hominis endocarditis reported in the literature, but only 2 previous cases of endocarditis and one case of pericarditis have been reported in children. In this report, we present a case of a 12-year-old boy with a right ventricle to pulmonary artery conduit for Tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia who presented at an annual cardiology examination with a 3 week history of fatigue and was found to have a vegetation on routine echocardiogram. Subsequent blood cultures grew Cardiobacterium hominis and the patient was treated successfully with 6 weeks of appropriate antibiotic therapy. We present this case and a review of the literature of the HACEK group of microorganisms in pediatrics.

The Brief Case: Cardiobacterium hominis endocarditis in a pediatric patient with congenital heart disease

“…Cardiobacterium is more commonly associated with infection of the aortic valve and can cause both native and prosthetic heart valve endocarditis ( 2 , 8 ). Several reports demonstrate infection associated with right ventricle to pulmonary artery conduits in pediatric patients, similarly to this patient ( 3 , 10 , 11 ). In contrast to the case presented, vegetations that may be large and friable are frequently seen; in this case, infection may have been detected before the growth of such vegetations.…”

Difficile examen direct par coloration de Gram : à propos d’un cas d’endocardite à Cardiobacterium hominis et revue de la littérature

“…Classically, 3.3 days are required to obtain a positive blood culture without treatment, but in some cases, culture could be extended until 14 days [9,10]. C. hominis can be identified and differentiated from the other HACCEK bacteria by its biochemical characteristics which are fermentation of glucose, maltose, mannose, sucrose, mannitol, sorbitol and the production of indole [10]. However, these characteristics do not allow to differentiate C. hominis to C. valvarum.…”

Cardiobacterium hominis infective endocarditis: A literature review

“…We searched the PubMed database to identify case reports of C. hominis IE and found 44 cases reported between January 2000 and June 2022 [1] , [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] , [18] , [19] , [20] , [21] , [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] , [27] , [28] , [29] , [30] , [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] , [36] , [37] , [38] , [39] , [40] , [41] , [42] , [43] , [44] , [45] , [46] , [47] . Herein, previously reported cases of C. hominis IE were reviewed and summarized.…”