Your 49-Year-Old Mother Has Just Been Diagnosed with Subacute Endocarditis

Multiple Choice

Your 49-year-old mother has just been diagnosed with subacute endocarditis with the following symptoms: fever, a rash, and early congestive heart failure.You wonder how this infection occurred, particularly since she appeared to be healthy before this.Which of the following questions for her physician is most pertinent to understanding the cause of this infection?

A) Is this infection related to menopause?
B) Could she have contracted this from a mosquito bite, since she does so much gardening?
C) Could she have AIDS?
D) Does she have an abnormal heart valve or a murmur?