Molecular detection of Coxiella burnetii infection in patients with a negative infective endocarditis culture following cardiovascular surgery
DESCRIPTION
The present study detected Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii) infection in patients with endocarditis with a negative bacterial culture from January, 2022 to February, 2023. For this purpose, 312 patients with endocarditis who were diagnosed and operated were included in the study after obtaining the consent of each study subject and approval from the hospital ethics committee.
Following surgery, the blood samples from the patients were cultured to identify bacteria using an automatic system. In 52 cases for which the result of this culture was negative, PCR was also performed using C. burnetii primer pairs. As shown by the results, from the 52 blood samples from patients with endocarditis who were found to be negative for bacteria, 13 samples were found to be positive for C. burnetii by PCR.
Among these 13 patients, all patients with a fever lasting 14 days after surgery, 6 patients with emaciation and pneumonia, and 2 patients with multi‑organ failure, who then succumbed.
