Antibiotic Prophylaxis for Infective Endocarditis Is Down. Is the Incidence of IE Up?

Guidelines for preventing infective endocarditis (IE), published in 2007 in the U.S. and in 2002 in France, considerably reduced the number of people eligible for antibiotic prophylaxis. Two studies examined whether the revised guidelines have been associated with increased incidence of IE.

Mayo Clinic researchers analyzed IE cases caused by viridans group streptococci (found in oral flora) in Olmsted County, Minnesota, and in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS). In both databases, case rates did not increase after 2007, compared with the period between 1999 and 2006.

In France, investigators analyzed IE cases diagnosed in 1991 and 1999 (before the guidelines were revised) and in 2008 (after the 2002 revision) in three regions where about o…