Treating endocarditis

Most cases of endocarditis can be treated with a course of antibiotics. You'll usually have to be admitted to hospital so the antibiotics can be given through a drip in your arm (intravenously).

While you're in hospital, regular blood samples will be taken to see how well the treatment is working.Once yourfever and any severe symptoms subside, you may be able to leave hospital and continue taking your Penicillin at home.

If you're taking antibiotics at home, you should have regular appointments with your GP to check that the treatment is working and you're not experiencing any side effects.

Depending on the severity of your condition, you'll usually have to take antibiotics for between two and six weeks.

Your doctor will usually take a blood sample before prescribing antibiotics to make sure you're given the most effective treatment. If your symptoms are particularly severe, you may be prescribed a mixture of different antibiotics before the results of the blood samples. This is a precautionary measure to prevent your symptoms becoming worse.

If your blood sample shows that fungi are causing your infection, you'll be prescribed an antifungal medicine .

Surgery

Endocarditis can cause serious damage to your heart. You may be referred to a cardiologist (a specialist in diseases of the heart and blood vessels) so the condition of your heart can be assessed more thoroughly.

Between 15%and 25% of people with endocarditis need some form of surgery. This is usually to repair damage to the heart. Surgery will usually be recommended if:

• your symptoms and/or test results suggest you've experienced heart failure a serious condition where your heart isn't pumping blood around your body efficiently
• you continue to have a high temperature (fever) despite treatment with antibiotics or antifungals
• your endocarditis is caused by particularly aggressive fungi or drug-resistant bacteria
• you experience one or more blood clots despite treatment with antibiotics or antifungals
• you have a prosthetic (artificial) heart valve
• the results of your echocardiogram suggest that an abscess (a collection of pus) or a fistula (an abnormal passageway) has developed inside your heart

The three main surgical procedures that are used to treat endocarditis are:

• the repair of the damaged heart valve
• the replacement of the damaged heart valves with prosthetic ones
• the draining of any abscesses and the repair of any fistulas that may have developed in the heart muscle

Surgery for endocarditis can be very challenging, not least because a person who needs surgery will usually be very ill to begin with. Despite the best efforts of their surgical teams, approximately one in 10 people will die during or shortly after surgery for endocarditis.

Abscesses

An abscess is a lump containing pus, which is made by the body during infection.

Antibiotic

Antibiotics are medicines that can be used to treat infections caused by micro-organisms, usually bacteria or fungi. For example amoxicillin, streptomycin and erythromycin.

Antifungal

Antifungal medicine is used to treat fungal infections. For example, clotrimazole and ketoconazole.

Bacteria

Bacteria are tiny, single-celled organisms that live in the body. Some can cause illness and disease and some others are good for you.

Blood

Blood supplies oxygen to the body and removes carbon dioxide. It is pumped around the body by the heart.

Heart valve

Heart valves are four sets of flaps that control the direction that blood pumps around the heart.

Intravenous

Intravenous (IV) means the injection of blood, drugs or fluids into the bloodstream through a vein.

Tissue

Body tissue is made up of groups of cells that perform a specific job, such as protecting the body against infection, producing movement or storing fat.