A New Zealand-led international study of heart valve infections has revealed a significant minority of patients contract the disease while in hospital.
Although endocarditis is not a common disease, the death rate is high. Almost 40% of patients die in 12 months.
Professor David Murdoch from the University of Otago in Christchurch says more than 10% of New Zealand endocarditis sufferers contract the disease while in health care.
He says there are at least 300 new cases of endocarditis in New Zealand each year.
The study looked at more than 2,700 patients from 58 hospitals in 25 countries.
