An Unusual Case of Haemophilus parainfluenzae Endocarditis in a Young Patient With Crohn's Disease

Vishrut Shah; Garry Berdichevskiy; Veronica Abello; Hasnan Ijaz; Ihtisham Khalid; Mustafa Rahim; Muntaha Asif; Henry Cusnir

doi:10.7759/cureus.33770

An Unusual Case of Haemophilus parainfluenzae Endocarditis in a Young Patient With Crohn's Disease

Cureus. 2023 Jan 14;15(1):e33770. doi: 10.7759/cureus.33770. eCollection 2023 Jan.

Authors

Vishrut Shah¹, Garry Berdichevskiy², Veronica Abello², Hasnan Ijaz¹, Ihtisham Khalid¹, Mustafa Rahim³, Muntaha Asif⁴, Henry Cusnir⁵

Affiliations

¹ Internal Medicine, Westside Regional Medical Center, Plantation, USA.
² College of Osteopathic Medicine, Nova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, Davie, USA.
³ Internal Medicine, Raleigh General Hospital, Beckley, USA.
⁴ College of Medicine, Era University, Lucknow, IND.
⁵ Cardiology, Westside Regional Medical Center, Plantation, USA.

Abstract

We present a rare case of infective endocarditis (IE) associated with Haemophilus parainfluenzae in a 40-year-old male patient with a history of Crohn's Disease (CD). A complete workup, including an echocardiogram and blood cultures, revealed mitral valve vegetation colonized by H. parainfluenzae. The patient was started on appropriate antibiotics with follow-up for outpatient surgery. This case discusses the potential for ectopic colonization of heart valves by H. parainfluenzae in patients with CD. The presence of this organism as the offending agent in this patient's case of IE shines a light on the pathogenesis of CD. Although uncommon, CD-associated bacterial seeding should be a differential when assessing young patients with IE.

Keywords: anemia; bacterial translocation; crohn’s disease (cd); haemophilus parainfluenzae; infective endocarditis.

Publication types

Case Reports