The following symptoms and complaints may indicate endocarditis (endocarditis):
Leading symptoms
- Fever, persistent, possibly chills (90% of cases accompanied by fever).
- Tachycardia – too fast heartbeat: > 100 beats per minute.
- Heart murmur (new onset) – this may change character (decrescendoform/becoming quieter; crescendoform/becoming louder)
Accompanying symptoms
- Adynamia, i.e. general exhaustion or a pronounced lack of strength and drive.
- Anorexia (loss of appetite)
- Arthralgia (joint pain)/myalgia (muscle pain).
- Dyspnea (shortness of breath)
- Back pain
- Weight loss
- Eyes
- Conjunctival hemorrhage (hemorrhage into the conjunctiva).
- Roth spots (retinal hemorrhages), caused by vasculitides (inflammatory diseases of the blood vessels).
- Skin or nails
- Janeway lesions (pathogenesis is based on a type III hypersensitivity reaction) – small lesions (small erythematous or hemorrhagic patches or nodules) on the palms/soles of the feet; pathognomonic for infective (bacterial) endocarditis; usually the underlying bacterium is a staphylococcus.
- Osler nodules – small subcutaneous, painful, inflammatory reddened, hemorrhagic efflorescences (pathological skin changes), which are usually signs of microembolism or immune complex vasculitis in the context of infective endocarditis; especially on the hands and feet.
- Petechiae (skin hemorrhages) of the skin and subungual (under the nail).
- Splinter hemorrhages (splinter hemorrhages) – small subcutaneous (“under the skin“), painful, inflammatory reddened, hemorrhagic, longitudinal efflorescences (“bloody skin changes“) in the nail bed in the sense of microembolism (occlusion of small blood vessels by an embolus / vascular plug); occurrence on the finger and toe groups and in the thenar and hypothenar area (thumb and little finger pad area).
- Drumstick finger
- Cardiac arrhythmias, unspecified
- Sweating
- Night sweats (night sweats)
- See for complications under secondary disease
- Other accompanying symptoms see below secondary diseases / complications.
