Iron Deficiency Anemia as a Rare Presentation of Subacute Bacterial Endocarditis Caused by a Rare Organism

Infective endocarditis commonly presents with fever, malaise, fatigue, and chest pain. However, this case report details an atypical presentation of infective endocarditis when a 63-year-old male patient was referred by his general practitioner to the emergency department with shortness of breath and substantial weight loss to investigate his symptomatic anemia. His initial assessments revealed severe iron deficiency anemia without any gastrointestinal or any other source of bleeding. Further investigations demonstrated that the patient suffered from infective endocarditis caused by a rare causative organism, <i>Streptococcus anginosus</i>. Hence, our case report highlights the atypical presentation and the rare organism in addition to the possibility of close association between iron deficiency anemia and subacute bacterial endocarditis. The patient was managed by culture-guided intravenous antibiotics and discharged after serial negative cultures.