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Bacterial endocarditis is associated with high morbidity and mortality and requires a long hospitalization due to long-term intravenous antimicrobial therapy. It is possible to partially treat selected and stable patients at home. We present 3 patients partially treated at home with intravenous antibiotics for proven complicated endocarditis. Patient A presented with a septic shock and mitral valve endocarditis. Patient B presented with an ICD lead endocarditis and patient C presented with an mitral valve endocarditis. All 3 patients had a complicated endocarditis and presented with extensive embolic dissemination. Following the initial complicated clinical course, the patients were discharged for antibiotic home treatment after clinical improvement. Subsequent treatment was successful and reduced their hospital stay with more than 14 days. Thanks to transmural cooperation with the home-care colleagues, we can safely provide antibiotic care at home so that stabilized endocarditis patients can be treated in their own habitat.

Three patients were recently transferred to two Intensive Care Units (ICUs) in the Netherlands from two different ICUs in Bucharest, Romania. The patients appeared to be colonised with several, partly identical, carbapenemase-producing bacteria (CPB) after a short hospitalisation in Romania. In this article, we show that it is important to be aware of the possibility that patients are colonised with CPB after a short hospitalisation abroad. This has consequences for infection prevention measurements, but probably also for the discontinuation of selective bowel decontamination in the ICU.