Gram-negative bacterial endocarditis in narcotic addicts.

The number of cases of bacterial endocarditis in drug addicts seen at UCLA and Wadsworth Veterans Administration hospitals increased sharply in 1971 over the average of the four preceding years. Enteric Gram-negative bacilli were the infecting organism in three of the seven cases seen in 1971 but were not found in any cases of endocarditis in the 1967-70 period. Medical treatment of the patients was, in general, unsuccessful in spite of the intensive use of newer antimicrobials active against enteric Gram-negative bacilli. One patient died with fulminant Pseudomonas endocarditis and two others (Pseudomonas and Serratia endocarditis) eventually required operations on the heart before a cure was achieved.