ISOLATED RIGHT-SIDED BARTONELLA-QUINTANA ENDOCARDITIS IN AN IMMUNOCOMPETENT ADULT

Bartonella quintana is a recently recognized cause of culture-negative left-sided endocarditis. We report a case of isolated tricuspid endoc arditis caused by B. quintana in a 65-year-old alcoholic man, who also had immuno-complex glomerulonephritis, B, quintana was established as the cause of the endocarditis based on serological tests and on failu re of extensive efforts to isolate an alternative organism, The patien t improved gradually on antibiotic therapy and did net require surgery . To our knowledge, this is the first report of isolated right-sided e ndocarditis caused by B. quintana. Although uncommon, Bartonella shoul d be considered in patients with isolated right-sided culture-negative endocarditis.