Objectives: We evaluated the clinical and laboratorycharacteristics of patients with infective endocarditis (IE).Study design: During a five-year period (January2002-December 2006), 96 patients (56 men, 40 women;mean age 47±15 years; range 16 to 81 years) were treatedand followed for IE. All the patients underwent transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography. Clinical andlaboratory characteristics of the patients were reviewed.All cases of prosthetic valve endocarditis were late-onsetIE. Blood samples were cultured in both aerobic andanaerobic media and incubated for 21 days. The diagnosisof IE was made according to the Duke criteria. Results: Male-to-female ratio was 1.4. The most common complaint on presentation was dyspnea (n=58,60.4%), followed by fever (n=20, 20.8%), and fatigue(n=16, 16.7%). The mean follow-up period was 21±12days (range 2 to 52 days). While transthoracic echocardiography was sufficient to detect vegetations in 69patients (71.9%), IE lesions could be demonstrated bytransesophageal echocardiography in 27 patients (28.1%).The most common involvement was seen in the mitralvalve (54.2%), and the incidence of native valve involvement (79.2%) was greater than that of prosthetic valveinvolvement. Forty-nine patients (51%) were submittedto surgery. In-hospital mortality occurred in 12 patients(12.5%). The prevalence of IE among all patients hospitalized in cardiology department was 0.13%. The culpritmicroorganism was isolated in only 36 patients (37.5%),being staphylococci (33.3%), enterococci (27.8%), brucellae (22.2%), and streptococci (11.1%). Conclusion: The diagnosis and treatment of IE shouldbe designed taking into consideration that epidemiologic and clinical features of IE may differ from those ofindividual countries.