Progress in bacterial endocarditis.

Introduction The success of penicillin in bacterial endocarditis has created new problems for the clinician. These include the need to make an early diagnosis, the choice of antibiotic, the difficulty of telling whether infection has been eliminated, and the prognosis when infection has been controlled. Moreover, the proper use of antibiotics to prevent bacterial endocarditis is of great importance. When each new antibiotic is introduced the question of its use in endocarditis has to be settled. However, it is becoming clear that penicillin still has pride of place, and that only in rare cases are other antibiotics of any value in this disease.