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J Med Microbiol 52 (2003), 109-112; DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.05003-0
© 2003 Society for General Microbiology
ISSN 0022-2615

PATHOGENICITY AND VIRULENCE

Role of staphylococcal enterotoxin A in a fatal case of endocarditis

M. Ellis1, A. Serreli2, P. Colque-Navarro2, U. Hedstrom3, A. Chacko4, E. Siemkowicz5 and R. Möllby2

1Department of Medicine Faculty and Health Sciences, UAE University, PO Box 17666, Al Ain, UAE 2Microbiology and Tumorbiology Center, Karolinska Institute, Sweden 3Department of Infectious Diseases, Huddinge Hospital, Sweden 4,5Departments of Medicine4 and Intensive Care5, Tawam Hospital, UAE

Correspondence M. Ellis michael.ellis{at}uaeu.ac.ae

Received 21 June 2002 Accepted 4 September 2002

A young female with no identifiable risk factors developed rapid, overwhelming Staphylococcus aureus endocarditis. Despite rapid sterilization of the blood and the mitral valve with optimal antimicrobials, she had persistent septic shock. In order to investigate this, the toxin-producing capacity of the infecting strain and the patient's ability to produce antibodies were determined. The strain produced high levels of both {alpha}-toxin and staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA), whilst the patient responded with modestly high levels of antibodies to {alpha}-toxin and low–normal levels to SEA. The patient was most probably susceptible to the actions of SEA and developed a toxic-shock-syndrome-like disease that further aggravated her valvular dysfunction. This case illustrates that optimal antimicrobial therapy alone is not sufficient treatment in patients with persistent toxic shock and that there is a need to evaluate immunomodulatory strategies in such patients.




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