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SAMJ: South African Medical Journal
On-line version ISSN 2078-5135
Print version ISSN 0256-9574
Abstract
PARRISH, Andy and MAHARAJ, Breminand. Prevention of infective endocarditis in developing countries - justifiable caution?. SAMJ, S. Afr. med. j. [online]. 2012, vol.102, n.8, pp.652-654. ISSN 2078-5135.
The internationally accepted practice of prescribing prophylactic antibiotics to individuals at risk of infective endocarditis has come under scrutiny. There are no published high-quality randomised controlled trials of the intervention, but new insights have emerged. Bacteraemic episodes are common following simple activities such as brushing teeth. Endocarditis following procedures is extremely rare, and systematic reviews of the evidence for prophylactic antibiotics have failed to demonstrate efficacy.