Experimental coxsackievirus endocarditis

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Abstract
Endocarditis has been mentioned only infrequently as a complication of viral infection. Nevertheless, it is well known that many patients with aortic or mitral valvular disease, or both, give no history of rheumatic fever, bacterial endocarditis, syphilis, or congenital heart disease. Under such circumstances the physician usually empirically renders a diagnosis of rheumatic valvulitis on the basis of exclusion. The present studies demonstrate that acute valvulitis frequently develops in mice inoculated with Coxsackie virus B4. Inasmuch as Coxsackie viruses are common infective agents for man, it would be important to determine if these viruses produce valvular lesions in man similar to those reported in this paper for mice. If viral endocarditis actually does occur in man, its presence may explain many instances of acute and chronic valvulitis for which no etiology can be determined and which are considered rheumatic in origin for want of a better diagnosis.

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