Duration of endocarditis
Endocarditis should be treated early to avoid complications and consequential damage. If antibiotic therapy is started in time, the disease will subside over the duration of the therapy of about four to six weeks. It is important to monitor the success of the therapy regularly, as this is the only way to ensure that no complications have occurred. Since the heart valves are not supplied with blood, it is extremely difficult for the body alone to fight the infection without therapy. This is why timely medical care of affected patients is so important and makes it possible to limit the disease to a period of several weeks.
Forms of endocarditis
Endocarditis acuta, as the name suggests, is the highly acute form of the disease. It is in contrast to endocarditis lenta, which has a gradual course and may be accompanied by no or only minor symptoms. In acute endocarditis, on the other hand, the symptoms, changes and life-threatening complications often occur within a few hours.
Initially, there is also fever, weakness and increased heartbeat.However, heart murmurs, a racing heart, heart valve damage and even heart failure can quickly follow. In this special case, antibiotic therapy must be initiated as soon as possible, since it is mainly so-called “staphylococci” that are responsible for this form of endocarditis. In case of severe complications, surgical intervention may also be necessary.
In this case, destroyed valves are reconstructed and all potential infectious components are removed, if possible. Endocarditis lenta is a subtype of general endocarditis and is contrasted with endocarditis acuta as a further form of endocarditis. While the latter manifests itself by a very sudden, acute and often severe course, endocarditis lenta is a gradual form.
It is most frequently caused by the pathogen Streptococcus viridans. Within weeks to months, the pathogen forms its metastases and growths on the heart valve and gradually leads to the typical symptoms. However, due to the comparatively slow progression, these can often be misunderstood at first and only become noticeable subliminally.
In the course of the disease, fever and fatigue, loss of appetite and anaemia often occur. As the disease progresses, the patient’s general condition deteriorates further, so that the symptoms become more pronounced at some point. Libmann-Sacks endocarditis is a variant of the disease that has no infectious cause and can therefore be considered sterile.
Neither bacteria nor other pathogens cause the changes in the inner walls of the heart, but probably autoimmunological diseases are behind the endocarditis. Often the autoimmune disease lupus erythematosus is the underlying cause. Through autoimmunological processes in the body, deposits of various blood cells form on the heart valves.
As a result, crusts form on the heart valves, which are often harmless, but in rare cases can lead to discomfort and harmful changes in the valves. Sometimes, muscle strands of the heart can tear and valve insufficiencies can develop. Often, however, Libmann-Sacks endocarditis remains symptom-free and undetected.
Endocarditis rheumatica is a complication of rheumatic fever, an autoimmune disease associated with a bacterial infection. In most cases, an infection with streptococci in the throat took place about two weeks before the symptoms. The infection itself can be harmless, but as a result the body can develop antibodies against the body’s own structures, resulting in fever, weakness, fatigue and rheumatic changes in the joints.
One of the dreaded complications of rheumatic fever is heart involvement in the form of rheumatoid endocarditis. Here, cells of the blood accumulate at the heart valves and can cause scars and calcification. As a result, changes in the heart valves can occur, which can have serious consequences. In the treatment of severe cardiac involvement, the immune system must be suppressed with drugs to control the body’s own antibodies.
