We describe a case of a 67-year-old man with bioprosthetic aortic valve endocarditis secondary to Rhizobium radiobacter, a rare Gram-negative plant pathogen. The initial source was assumed to be due to soil exposure. The patient was successfully managed with ceftriaxone following aortic valve replacement. Upon review of the literature, failure to recover R. radiobacter from blood cultures occurred in 57% (4/7) of reported endocarditis cases and 86% (6/7) were managed with antimicrobial monotherapy. Notably, all the published case reports to date of R. radiobacter endocarditis have reported survival following treatment.
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