Acquired Heart Disease

Infective Endocarditis

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Treatment

Infective endocarditis is treated with antibiotics that are initially administered intravenously, or through an IV, while your child is in the hospital. Depending on the severity of the infection, your child may need to stay in the hospital for up to six weeks. The antibiotics given to your child will be determined by the bacteria that caused the infection.

Early treatment is usually successful. However, with infective endocarditis it is possible for heart failure to develop, and this risk increases the longer treatment is delayed. If heart failure occurs, your child may need surgery to repair or replace the affected heart valve. If the diagnosis is delayed and severe heart damage has occurred, the child may die.

There also are a number of other complications that, although rare, can occur as a result of endocarditis, such as the development of blood clots, aneurysms, arrhythmia and jaundice.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Children's Hospital.
Last updated May 8, 2007