HACEK organisms

The HACEK organisms are a group of fastidious Gram-negative bacteria that are an unusual cause of infective endocarditis, which is an inflammation of the heart due to bacterial infection. HACEK is an abbreviation of the initials of the genera of this group of bacteria: Haemophilus, Aggregatibacter (previously Actinobacillus), Cardiobacterium, Eikenella, Kingella. The HACEK organisms are a normal part of the human microbiota, living in the oral-pharyngeal region.

The bacteria were originally grouped because they were thought to be a significant cause of infective endocarditis, but recent research has shown that they are rare and only responsible for 1.4–3.0% of all cases of this disease.