A Groundhog, a Novel<i>Bartonella</i>Sequence, and My Father’s Death

Breitschwerdt, Edward B.; Maggi, Ricardo G.; Cadenas, María Belén; Diniz, Pedro Paulo Vissotto de Paiva

doi:10.3201/eid1512.ad1512

Cited by 27 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 37 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As B. henselae DNA was successfully amplified and sequenced from one of the son’s BAPGM enrichment blood cultures and from a subculture isolate obtained from the mother’s blood, bacteremia (viable bacteria) was confirmed in both individuals despite prior administration of antibiotics. Only one of three blood culture sample sets from the mother and the son resulted in enrichment culture or isolation evidence to support the presence of bacteremia, which is consistent with prior experience with the BAPGM platform when testing sequentially-obtained blood samples from sick human patients [10,11,16,17,19,32]. Presumably, failure to document infection in two of the three sample sets is potentially due to a relapsing pattern of bacteremia in humans [33-36], as has been reported in experimentally-infected cats [37,38] and rodents [33,39,40].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…Thus, because of alternative vectors, numerous accidental or reservoir hosts, and the seemingly broad spectrum of disease manifestations, referring to all B. henselae infections as CSD is a contradiction in fact, and the use of the more globally applicable term such as bartonellosis is suggested. In addition, CSD is considered a self-limiting infection for which antibiotic therapy is not recommended, whereas more recent evidence indicates that antibiotic elimination of B. henselae bacteremia can be extremely challenging, and potentially difficult to achieve [19,31]. Interestingly, molecular differences among B. henselae isolates based on 16S rDNA sequences and multiple-locus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA), have documented the presence of two different B. henselae genotypes, one more frequently observed in association with human infections (genotype I), and the second (genotype II) most often isolated from bacteremic cats, suggesting that genotype II isolates may be minimally or nonpathogenic for humans (CSD) as compared with a more pathogenic and zoonotic genotype I [63,64].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…berkhoffii genotypes I and II [10-12,15,16], Bartonella koehlerae [10,12,14,17], Candidatus Bartonella melophagi [18], and a novel Bartonella sp. related to Bartonella volans [19], from the blood of immunocompetent humans [10,11,13]. Standardized precautions are routinely used in our laboratory to avoid DNA contamination and negative controls are used in each step of the testing platform, including culture, DNA extraction and PCR negative controls.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Bartonella henselae bacteremia in a mother and son potentially associated with tick exposure

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundBartonella henselae is a zoonotic, alpha Proteobacterium, historically associated with cat scratch disease (CSD), but more recently associated with persistent bacteremia, fever of unknown origin, arthritic and neurological disorders, and bacillary angiomatosis, and peliosis hepatis in immunocompromised patients. A family from the Netherlands contacted our laboratory requesting to be included in a research study (NCSU-IRB#1960), designed to characterize Bartonella spp. bacteremia in people with extensive arthropod or animal exposure. All four family members had been exposed to tick bites in Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands. The mother and son were exhibiting symptoms including fatigue, headaches, memory loss, disorientation, peripheral neuropathic pain, striae (son only), and loss of coordination, whereas the father and daughter were healthy.MethodsEach family member was tested for serological evidence of Bartonella exposure using B. vinsonii subsp. berkhoffii genotypes I-III, B. henselae and B. koehlerae indirect fluorescent antibody assays and for bacteremia using the BAPGM enrichment blood culture platform.ResultsThe mother was seroreactive to multiple Bartonella spp. antigens and bacteremia was confirmed by PCR amplification of B. henselae DNA from blood, and from a BAPGM blood agar plate subculture isolate. The son was not seroreactive to any Bartonella sp. antigen, but B. henselae DNA was amplified from several blood and serum samples, from BAPGM enrichment blood culture, and from a cutaneous striae biopsy. The father and daughter were seronegative to all Bartonella spp. antigens, and negative for Bartonella DNA amplification.ConclusionsHistorically, persistent B. henselae bacteremia was not thought to occur in immunocompetent humans. To our knowledge, this study provides preliminary evidence supporting the possibility of persistent B. henselae bacteremia in immunocompetent persons from Europe. Cat or flea contact was considered an unlikely source of transmission and the mother, a physician, reported that clinical symptoms developed following tick exposure. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a B. henselae organism has been visualized in and amplified from a striae lesion. As the tick bites occurred three years prior to documentation of B. henselae bacteremia, the mode of transmission could not be determined.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Bartonella henselae bacteremia in a mother and son potentially associated with tick exposure

et al. 2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A total of 31 Bartonella spp. from pre-characterized human and animal clinical cases [18,[103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112][113][114][115][116] were amplified using the QX-one BBB ddPCR assay described in this study (Table 8). 4.6.…”

Section: Detection Of Bartonella Sppmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a Multiplex Droplet Digital PCR Assay for the Detection of Babesia, Bartonella, and Borrelia Species

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We describe the development, optimization, and validation of a multiplex droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) assay for the simultaneous detection of Babesia, Bartonella, and Borrelia spp. DNA from several sample matrices, including clinical blood samples from animals and humans, vectors, in-vitro infected human and animal cell lines, and tissues obtained from animal models (infected with Bartonella and/or B. burgdorferi). The multiplex ddPCR assay was able to detect 31 Bartonella, 13 Borrelia, and 24 Babesia species, including Theileria equi, T. cervi, and Cytauxzoon felis. No amplification of Treponema or Leptospira spp. was observed. Sensitivity of 0.2–5 genome equivalent DNA copies per microliter was achieved for different members of the Bartonella and Borrelia genus, depending on the species or matrix type (water or spiked blood DNA) tested. The ddPCR assay facilitated the simultaneous detection of co-infections with two and three vector-borne pathogens comprising four different genera (Babesia, Bartonella, Borrelia, and Theileria) from clinical and other sample sources.

show abstract

“…Many reports describe these challenges and show the utility of enrichment blood culture and subculture in enhancing the diagnosis of Bartonella sp. bloodstream infections (11)(12)(13).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Improvement of Bartonella henselae DNA Detection in Cat Blood Samples by Combining Molecular and Culture Methods

et al. 2018

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

spp. are bacteria of worldwide distribution that cause asymptomatic to fatal infections in animals and humans. The most common zoonotic species is , for which cats are the major natural reservoir host. To better understand sp. diagnostic limitations, we determined the frequency of bloodstream infection in 112 cats by comparing and combining the results of multiple conventional and nested PCRs from blood and liquid culture samples. Using liquid culture conventional PCR, sp. DNA was amplified from 27.7% of samples (31/112) compared to 90.2% of samples (101/112) by combining nested PCR from blood and liquid culture, indicating that PCR testing of more than one type of sample provides better sensitivity than a standalone PCR and that bloodstream infection is very frequent among cats in southeastern Brazil. This study reinforces the need for multistep testing for sp. infection to prevent false-negative diagnostic results, even in reservoir hosts such as cats that typically maintain higher bacteremia levels.

show abstract

A Groundhog, a NovelBartonellaSequence, and My Father’s Death

Cited by 27 publications

References 37 publications

Bartonella henselae bacteremia in a mother and son potentially associated with tick exposure

Bartonella henselae bacteremia in a mother and son potentially associated with tick exposure

Development of a Multiplex Droplet Digital PCR Assay for the Detection of Babesia, Bartonella, and Borrelia Species

Improvement of Bartonella henselae DNA Detection in Cat Blood Samples by Combining Molecular and Culture Methods

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About