Aortic vascular graft infection caused by Cardiobacterium valvarum: a case report.

A 53-year-old man with a past medical history of total arch replacement surgery and severe aortic regurgitation presented with a 1-month history of persistent general malaise, anorexia, body weight loss and night sweats. His recent history included gingival hyperplasia for 6 years, gingivitis after tooth extraction 3 years before, prolonged inflammatory status for 4 months, fundal hemorrhage and leg tenderness for 2 months. A pathogen was detected from blood culture, but conventional microbiological examination failed to identify the pathogen. The organism was eventually identified as Cardiobacterium valvarum by 16S rRNA analysis, and the patient was diagnosed with infective endocarditis and prosthetic vascular graft infection. The patient received intravenous antibiotic therapy using a combination of ceftriaxone and levofloxacin for 5 weeks and was discharged with a good clinical course. C. valvarum is a rare human pathogen in clinical settings. Only 10 cases have been reported to date worldwide, and therefore, the clinical characteristics of C. valvarum infection are not fully known. This is a first well-described case of C. valvarum infection in Japan, and further, a first report of aortic prosthetic vascular graft infection worldwide. Identification of C. valvarum is usually difficult due to its phenotypic characteristics, and molecular approaches would be required for both clinicians and microbiologists to facilitate more reliable diagnosis and uncover its clinical picture more clearly.

Molecular identification of an invasive gingival bacterial community.

A woman with neutropenia developed gingival hyperplasia. Biopsy showed invasion of gingival tissue with mats of filamentous organisms, and molecular analysis by polymerase chain reaction and fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed Capnocytophaga sputigena, Leptotrichia species, and Fusobacterium nucleatum. Oral bacterial flora may cause invasive gingival disease with hyperplasia in immunocompromised patients.

Oral manifestation of sporotrichosis in AIDS patients.

A wide spectrum of oral lesions has been associated with human immunodeficiency viral infection (HIV), or AIDS. This report describes the case of an HIV-infected patient who developed a case of disseminated sporotrichosis whose first clinical sign was the presence of orofacial lesions. A histopathological study of this patient's biopsy specimens taken from the oropharyngeal lesions revealed a number of rounded and/or oval free-spore forms of Sporothrix schenkii, the identification of which was corroborated by culturing skin lesion exudate on Sabouraud's glucose agar. To the best of our knowledge to date, this is the first time a case of the oral manifestation of sporotrichosis in association with HIV infection has been described in the dental literature.

Oral manifestations of cytomegalovirus infection.

Disease caused by cytomegalovirus is reported with increasing frequency. Cytomegalovirus is an important pathogen in immunocompromised and immunosuppressed patients. The most common manifestation of cytomegalovirus infection of the gastrointestinal tract including the oral mucosa is ulceration. The role of cytomegalovirus in xerostomia, Sjögren's syndrome, and Kaposi's sarcoma is continuing to be investigated. This article reviews the oral manifestations of cytomegalovirus, including recently reported oral manifestations.

Actinomycosis of the jaws. 2 case reports.

The diagnosis of actinomycosis is not always straightforward. It has been described as a masquerader, and 2 cases are presented which exemplify this. Their mode of presentation and natural history are contrasted.