Case Report
Serratia marcescens EndocarditiswithPerivalvularAbscess
PresentingasAtrioventricularBlock
AaronRichardson ,
1
AndresMartinez,
2
ShreyaGhetiya,
1
EmilMissov,
1
RobertPercy,
1
andSrinivasanSattiraju
1
1
Division of Cardiology, University of Florida College of Medicine Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL, USA
2
Department of Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL, USA
CorrespondenceshouldbeaddressedtoAaronRichardson;aaron.richardson@jax.ufl.edu
Received 1 February 2020; Accepted 27 May 2020; Published 11 June 2020
AcademicEditor:GloriaTaliani
Copyright©2020AaronRichardsonetal.isisanopenaccessarticledistributedundertheCreativeCommonsAttribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properlycited.
Serratia marcescens is an aerobic, Gram-negative bacillus first identified in 1819 (Yeung et al. 2018). S. marcescens infective
endocarditisisextremelyrareaccountingforonly0.14%ofallcases(PhadkeandJacob2016,Hadanoetal.2012,Nikolakopoulos
etal.2019).Wepresentthecaseofa33-year-oldmalewithapastmedicalhistoryofHodgkinlymphoma,nonischemiccar-
diomyopathyejectionfractionof25–30%,severeaorticstenosis,hepatitisC,andactiveintravenous(IV)drugabusewhowas
admittedfollowingamotorvehicleaccident.Approximately10daysintohisadmission,hedevelopeda39.5degreeCelsiusfever,
whichpromptedcollectionofbloodcultures.esecultureswerepositive(2outof2)for S. marcescens forwhichhewastreated
withintravenouscefepime.Soonafterthisdiagnosis,patientdevelopedacompleteAVblock.Giventheinstabilityofthepatient,
herequiredemergentplacementofatemporarypacingwire.Transesophagealechocardiogramwasorderedandrevealedanaortic
root abscess. Given the comorbidities and active IV drug use, conservative management was pursued. Although rare, trends
suggest that this pathogen may be on the rise. Further research is needed to better understand how to effectively manage
this pathogen.
1.Introduction
Serratia marcescens is an aerobic, motile, oxidase-negative,
and Gram-negative bacillus first identified in 1819 [1]. S
marcescens is an opportunistic pathogen associated with
intravenous drug use, immunosuppression, previous an-
tibiotic exposure, and indwelling catheterization. S. mar-
cescens has a number of factors increasing virulence
including fimbria-like adhesions, which allow for surface
attachment and subsequent formation of biofilms in-
creasing the likelihood of infection to humans. S. mar-
cescens is most commonly known to cause urinary tract
infections,pneumonia,andsofttissueinfections.Infective
endocarditis by S. marcescens, first described in 1951, is
extremely rare accounting for only 0.14% of all cases of
endocarditis [2–4].
2.CaseReport
A 33-year-old male with a past medical history of Hodgkin
lymphoma, nonischemic cardiomyopathy ejection fraction of
25–30%, severe aortic stenosis, hepatitis C, and intravenous
drug abuse was admitted to the hospital following a motor
vehicleaccident.Uponadmission,hewasfoundtohaveaclosed
severelydisplacedzoneIIIsacralfractureforwhichconservative
management was pursued due to patient's comorbidities.
Approximately 3 days into the admission, he was di-
agnosed with a urinary tract infection. Broad spectrum
antibioticswereordered,andurineculturereturnedpositive
for S. marcescens sensitivetociprofloxacin,gentamycin,and
trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. Blood cultures drawn at
thesametimetheurinarytractinfectionwasdiagnosedwere
negative. e patient was treated with one week of
Hindawi
Case Reports in Infectious Diseases
Volume 2020, Article ID 7463719, 5 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/7463719