Infective Endocarditis Mimicking Reactive Arthritis
Hudson Lin, Claudia See, Neal Shah, Soonmee Cha, Kirk Jones, Kreshnik Zejnullahu · 2026
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Description
Hudson Lin and colleagues present a 2026 case in which infective endocarditis in a young man first looked like reactive arthritis. A 29-year-old man arrived in the emergency department with red, itchy spots on his shins and ankles plus painful, swollen knees. After workup for septic or inflammatory joint disease, he was treated empirically for reactive arthritis with systemic steroids. One month later he returned with headache, dark urine, and unintentional weight loss of forty pounds.
Imaging then showed multiple ischemic strokes in both cerebellar regions and the right thalamus. Diagnosis followed: Streptococcus mitis endocarditis with severe aortic valve leak and infected brain emboli. He received a mechanical aortic valve replacement and four weeks of antibiotics. The case warns that vague early signs can delay endocarditis diagnosis toward stroke and valve ruin, and that reactive arthritis should stay a diagnosis of exclusion.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Hudson Lin, Claudia See, Neal Shah, Soonmee Cha, Kirk Jones, Kreshnik Zejnullahu |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 22 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |