Endocarditis Caused by a Pasteurella-like Organism

Abstract

NUMEROUS bacterial species have been described as etiologic agents in endocarditis.1 This report is to implicate, as a previously unrecognized cause of subacute bacterial endocarditis, a closely related group of bacteria currently designated as group "II-D" by the Communicable Disease Center, Atlanta, Georgia. The strains involved are gram-negative pleomorphic bacteria that grow optimally in an elevated carbon dioxide atmosphere (Fig. 1). Isolation of the organisms in the 4 cases†† that make up this report occurred within a ten-month period and over a wide geographic area, suggesting that this organism is widespread and the cause of endocarditis in a small but . . .