The Effect of Subacute Bacterial Endocarditis on the Course of the Underlying Heart Disease

THE development of a successful treatment for subacute bacterial endocarditis by penicillin has greatly changed the significance of this condition as an event in the life history of a person with chronic heart disease. Formerly, the disease was almost universally fatal, with the infection itself dominating the clinical picture, and therefore it was of relatively little moment whether heart failure developed or not. Now, since the infection can usually be controlled, if increased cardiac damage occurs it may materially increase the disability or lead to early death of the patient from heart failure. Many of the investigators1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 who have reported . . .