ABSTRACT
Sixty cases of infective endocarditis were studied prospectively between May 1985 till December 1988. There were 40 males and 20 females, with a mean age of 28 years. Thirty patients were found to have evidence of chronic rheumatic heart disease. Among these 60 cases, 30 had evidence of chronic rheumatic heart disease, 4 had a prosthetic aortic valve, 8 congential heart disease and 5 mitral valve prolapse. Thirteen were identified in a previously normal heart. Positive cultures were obtained in 44 patients [73%]. The commonest infective organisms were Streptococus viridans. 2D echocardiography detected vegetation in 48 patients [80%].Early surgery was performed in 31 patients. In this group of patients heart failure was present in 21, embolization in 10, persistence of fever in 15 and large vegetations in 19. The mortality in the surgical group was 16% [5/31], while the mortality in the medical group was 7% [2/29] with a mean follow up of one year