Bartonellosis as Cause of Death After Red Blood Cell Unit Transfusion

Abstract

The authors present the case of a young man with aplastic anemia who went into shock and died after several red blood cell unit transfusions. Immunohematological studies did not show any abnormality and blood cultures from patients and blood bags were negative. The ultrastructural findings, allied with current scientific knowledge, permitted the diagnosis of Bartonella sp. infection. In face of this diagnosis, two possibilities should be considered: the first one is that the patient was already infected by the bacteria before the last RBC unit transfusion. The pathogen could be involved in aplastic anemia etiology and in the failure to recover hemoglobin levels, in spite of the transfusions. The second possibility is that the RBC unit was contaminated with a Bartonella sp., which would have led to a state of shock, causing the death of the patient.

Suspected Needle Stick Transmission of Bartonella vinsonii subspecies berkhoffii to a Veterinarian

“…On an ultrastructural basis, the same research group implicated infection with a Bartonella spp. in an aplastic anemia patient, who died after receiving multiple red blood cell transfusions 25 . At the NCSU‐VTH, canine and feline blood donors are routinely screened using the BAPGM platform for evidence of Bartonella sp.…”

Detection of Bartonella vinsonii subsp. berkhoffii in an HIV patient using metagenomic Next-Generation Sequencing

“…Bartonella spp. are fastidious gram-negative bacilli that require an enriched culture medium (which contains haeme) and a high CO 2 level for growth [ 1 , 2 ]. They can cause lymphadenitis, endocarditis, encephalitis, visceral abscessesfever in immunocompetent individuals and bacillary angiomatosis in immunocompromised patients [ 3 ].…”