A 59-year-old man with type 1 diabetes presented with heart failure. Echocardiography showed large vegetations on the mitral and aortic valves. Blood bacterial culture was positive for Staphylococcus warneri, a coagulase-negative staphylococcus (CoNS) family member. He was diagnosed with native valve endocarditis (NVE) induced by the resident bacteria and ultimately underwent double valve replacement. Retrospectively, slight laboratory data abnormalities and weight loss beginning four months before may have been signs of NVE. He had no history of immunosuppressive therapies or medical device implantation. Thus, CoNS can cause NVE after a long asymptomatic course in patients with poorly controlled diabetes.
Keywords: Staphylococcus warneri; bicuspid aortic valve; coagulase-negative staphylococcus (CoNS); diabetes mellitus; infective endocarditis (IE); native valve endocarditis (NVE).