Mycobacterium goodii endocarditis following mitral valve ring annuloplasty.

BACKGROUND: Mycobacterium goodii is an infrequent human pathogen which has been implicated in prosthesis related infections and penetrating injuries. It is often initially misidentified as a gram-positive rod by clinical microbiologic laboratories and should be considered in the differential diagnosis.

CASE PRESENTATION: We describe here the second reported case of M. goodii endocarditis. Species level identification was performed by 16S rDNA (ribosomal deoxyribonucleic acid) gene sequencing. The patient was successfully treated with mitral valve replacement and a prolonged combination of ciprofloxacin and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole.

CONCLUSION: Confirmation of the diagnosis utilizing molecular techniques and drug susceptibility testing allowed for successful treatment of this prosthetic infection.