Pneumococcal Endocarditis in a 7-Week-Old Infant: A Case Complicated by Congenital Heart Malformation With Mitral Valve Perforation

• A 7-week-old girl had pneumococcal endocarditis and perforation of the mitral valve. Pneumococcal endocarditis in children under 2 years of age is extremely rare, and is a prototype for endocarditis in general in infants less than 2 years of age. To our knowledge, this is the youngest reported patient with pneumococcal endocarditis in the penicillin era. ( Am J Dis Child 129:980-983, 1975)