Fatal Burkholderia cepacia early prosthetic valve endocarditis: a very rare case and a review of the literature

A 58-year-old woman who underwent mitral valve replacement and tricuspid valve repair developed severe acute systemic illness four weeks after surgery. Serial blood cultures grew Burkholderia cepacia at four to five days after incubation. Transthoracic echocardiography had confirmed a diagnosis of prosthetic valve endocarditis. The patient did not respond to empirical or culture-sensitive antibiotic therapy of endocarditis. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) therapy was only commenced at three weeks after the start of fever because of delayed presentation. Every effort should be made to identify this organism in the laboratory. When clinically indicated, early presumptive antibiotic therapy with TMP-SMX should be started.