Repeat infective endocarditis: differentiating relapse from reinfection.

Chu, Vivian H; Sexton, Daniel J; Cabell, Christopher H; Reller, L Barth; Pappas, Paul A; Singh, Rakesh K; Fowler, Vance G; Corey, G Ralph et al. · Clin Infect Dis · 2005

case_series · Level IV

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Abstract

Repeat infective endocarditis due to the same species can represent relapse of the initial infection or a new infection. We used time-based clinical criteria and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis-based molecular criteria to classify 13 cases of repeat infective endocarditis as either relapse or reinfection. The agreement between clinical and molecular criteria was imperfect (agreement in 10 [77%] of 13 cases).

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