Rochalimaea elizabethae sp. nov. isolated from a patient with endocarditis

Abstract

A Rochalimaea-like organism (strain F9251) was isolated from a patient with endocarditis after blood drawn for culture before antimicrobial therapy was subcultured onto blood and chocolate agars and incubated for 2 weeks in 5% CO2. The strain was phenotypically similar to known Rochalimaea species. The cellular fatty acid composition of strain F9251 was close to but distinct from those of the three known Rochalimaea species and was most similar to that of R. vinsonii. Labeled DNA from strain F9251 was 59 to 67% related to DNAs from type strains of the three described Rochalimaea species, and its 16S rRNA gene sequence was 98.9%o or more homologous to their 16S rRNA gene sequences. These findings support classification of F9251 as a new Rochalimaea species, for which the name Rochalimaea elizabethae sp. nov. is proposed. The patient infected with the organism had large bacterial vegetations on his aortic valve and was cured with antibiotics and valve-replacement surgery. Recognition of the procedures required to identify this and other Rochalimaea species suggests that clinical laboratories should prolong the incubation times of cultures of blood and tissue from patients with suspected endocarditis, patients with fever of unknown origin, and immunocompromised patients with fever so that the full spectrum of disease caused by these organisms can be recognized.

Acquisition of nonspecific Bartonella strains by the northern grasshopper mouse (Onychomys leucogaster)

“…Interest in rodents as reservoir hosts of Bartonella led to numerous studies that found a high level of genetic diversity of Bartonella among a variety of rodent species around the world (Birtles et al, 1994;Kosoy et al, 1997;Ying et al, 2002;Castle et al, 2004;Jardine et al, 2005). The identity of some strains isolated from rodents and humans suggested that rodents might serve as reservoir hosts of certain Bartonella species that cause human illness (Daly et al, 1993;Ellis et al, 1999;Welch et al, 1999;Kosoy et al, 2003). The close association between rodents and humans throughout the world makes the study of rodent-borne Bartonella essential for determining the extent to which rodents may serve as a source of human infections.…”

Molecular phylogeny of the genus Bartonella: what is the current knowledge?

“…Bartonella elizabethae and Bartonella vinsonii subsp. berkho¤i have been shown to cause endocarditis [6,7], while B. vinsonii subsp. arupensis was ¢rst isolated from a febrile patient with valvular disease in the USA [8].…”

Molecular detection of zoonotic bartonellae (B. henselae, B. elizabethae and B. rochalimae) in fleas collected from dogs in Israel

“…Reported clinical manifestations caused by B. henselae include fatigue, fever, lymphadenomegaly, bacillary angiomatosis, peliosis hepatis, meningitis, encephalitis, neuroretinitis and endocarditis (Chomel & Kasten, 2010). Bartonella rochalimae has been isolated from a tourist travelling in Peru who displayed bacteraemia, fever and splenomegaly (Eremeeva et al, 2007), and B. elizabethae, the rat-adapted Bartonella, was isolated from a human patient with endocarditis (Daly et al, 1993). To date, the main Bartonella species known to infect canids are Bartonella (Yore et al, 2014).…”