Staphylococcal tricuspid valve endocarditis in a non-addicted patient with structurally normal heart

Abstract

Tricuspid valve endocarditis in non-addicted patients without underlying cardiac disease is extremely rare. Therefore, its diagnosis often presents a clinical challenge. We report a case of a 24-year-old female who presented with bilateral lower lobe cavitary pneumonia. She remained febrile in spite of 5 days of intravenous antibiotic therapy. On subsequent investigations, she was found to have isolated tricuspid valve endocarditis caused by Staphylococcus aereus. She was not an intravenous drug abuser and there was no underlying cardiac disease. She responded well to medical therapy. We report this case because of rarity of tricuspid valve endocarditis is a non-addicted person with structurally normal heart and its atypical presentation with paucity of cardiac symptoms at initial stage.