INFECTIVE ENDOCARDITIS - SOME POPULAR TENETS DEBUNKED

Infective endocarditis remains an uncommon disease thus any individual doctor's experience of it must of necessity be limited. Such patients are always ''interesting'' and invariably stay in hospital for weeks rather than days-this, I think, leads clinicians to assume the infecti on is more common than it really is. As a (clinical) microbiologist I have been in a unique position to follow all patients with infective e ndocarditis who have presented or been referred to St Thomas' Hospital in London since 1970. This has provided a wealth of information as we ll as the background for this article.