DRUG-THERAPY - PREVENTION OF INFECTIVE ENDOCARDITIS

Infective endocarditis is always fatal if untreated and continues to cause substantial morbidity and mortality despite modern antimicrobial and surgical treatment.1–5 Therefore, prevention is a priority. In 1909, Lord Thomas Horder wrote that when “infection is grafted upon a previously sclerosed endocardium… it is possible to do something to prevent the mischief…. The source of the infecting agent in most of the cases is the mouth or the intestine…. Attention might profitably be directed to these regions in all persons known to possess valvular defects.”6 Today we continue efforts “to… © 1995, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.