TABLE 1

Infectious causes of aortitis

Diagnosis	Age at onset	Tissue pattern	Core symptoms and signs	Typical imaging features
Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Salmonella, or Pseudomonas infection	Any	Suppurative	Fever, constitutional symptoms History of antecedent infection High erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein Positive blood cultures Positive tissue stain and culture	Usually a single lesion
Syphilis	Decades after primary infection	Lymphoplasmacytic	Possible history of untreated primary syphilis Positive syphilis serology Positive tissue stain and culture	Usually a single lesion in the thoracic aorta
Coxiella burnetii infection (Q fever)	Usually older, occurs months to years after primary infection	Granulomatous	Possible fever, abdominal pain, high C-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate Positive immunoglobulin G Positive polymerase chain reaction of aortic tissue	More often in the abdominal than the thoracic aorta Predilection for existing aneurysms or vascular grafts
Fungal or mycobacterial infection	Any	Granulomatous (may be suppurative)	Constitutional symptoms Disseminated infection Positive tissue stain and culture	Thoracic or abdominal aorta