Candida albicans endocarditis associated with a contaminated aortic valve allograft--California, 1996.

An allograft heart valve is an implanted valve obtained from a person not related to the recipient. Fungal endocarditis secondary to extrinsic valve contamination is a rare but potentially fatal complication of allograft valve replacement; its incidence following surgery for heart valve replacement with allografts is approximately 0.3%. Treatment often is unsuccessful, and death is a frequent outcome. This report describes the investigation of a case of Candida albicans endocarditis associated with a contaminated aortic valve allograft. The findings indicated that antimicrobial processing of the initial aortic valve allograft did not eliminate C. albicans from the tissue.