Which body site is infected during endocarditis?
The endocardium is the epithelial lining of the inside of the heart and includes the valves. Endocarditis is inflammation of that tissue, and is frequently associated with bacterial infection. In the most common form of bacterial endocarditis, the infection involves the heart valves and leads to vegetations on the valves. These vegetations are comprised of bacterial cells, fibrin and platelets, and when they break off you have the release of septic emboli causing infection in other sites. Ultimately, the vegetations destroy the valvular function. 2) Since endocarditis is such a serious infection, some at risk patients are given chemoprophylaxis to minimise the risk of developing the infection. What two broad criteria must the patient fulfil in order to be considered high risk? Give examples. The endocardium is normally very resistant to attack and colonisation by microorganisms. In fact septicaemia and or bacteraemia rarely result in endocarditis even though the bacteria are in the blo
