Bacterial Endocarditis Complicating Repair of a Ventricular Septal Defect

WITH the increasing operability of congenital cardiac defects has come the problem of bacterial endocarditis in the postoperative period. Many possible sources of infection are introduced by surgery, and the emergence of antibiotic-resistant staphylococci has made this endocarditis a fearful complication with a fatality rate approaching 50 per cent.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 The onset of the disease is insidious, the time of appearance after surgery variable, and the response to antibiotics often poor.In the case reported below bacterial endocarditis followed repair of a ventricular septal defect. A coagulase-negative, resistant, hemolytic Staphylococcus aureus was repeatedly isolated. Intensive treatment over an eight-month period with . . .