In Reply.—I am pleased that my review of pediatric K kingae infections stimulated Le's report of two cases. These two cases can be added to five other cases reported after submission of my article.1-3 These seven additional cases confirm my observations that K kingae seems to infect preferentially the vascular space, valves, and/or skeletal tissues and that clinical illness ranges from mild or self-limited to life threatening.
Although the cases I reviewed were few, my intent was to emphasize the similar morphologic and biochemical features of the Neisseriaceae family members, K kingae, Moraxella, and Neisseria species, as well as the infections that they produce. These bacteria can all infect the vascular space, with or without valvular or cutaneous manifestations, and the skeletal tissues. This statement is a clinical observation and is no more a conclusion than Le's statement that his single case of K kingae endocarditis resembled previously