Feline infectious anaemia. Risk by age, sex and breed; prior disease; seasonal occurrence; mortality.
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A high frequency of Bartonella elizabethae seropositivity (39%) was recorded among intravenous heroin addicts in Stockholm, Sweden, who died from a lethal injection. Some of the B. elizabethae-seropositive individuals also had antibodies to B. henselae Houston-1, B. grahamii, and B. quintana, but none had antibodies to B. henselae Marseille or B. vinsonii subsp. vinsonii. Hepatitis was a frequent finding but no case had peliosis hepatitis. There was no case of endocarditis, but in three persons active subacute-to-chronic myocarditis was found; two of these cases were Bartonella-positive and HIV-negative.
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A written account implicating Phlebotomus sand flies as vectors of Carrion's disease and cutaneous leishmaniasis in Peru was published by Cosme Bueno in 1764. Bueno's report precedes other publications implicating sand flies in the transmission of human pathogens by nearly a century and a half.
We assessed in vitro the antibiotic susceptibilities of 14 Bartonella isolates of the species B. quintana, B. vinsonii, B. henselae, and B. elizabethae. Columbia agar base supplemented with 5% horse blood was used as the antibiotic assay medium. Bacterial growth could be evaluated within 5 days after incubation of the plates at 37 degrees C in a 5% carbon dioxide atmosphere. The MICs at which 90% of isolates are inhibited (MIC90s) were 0.06 microgram/ml for penicillin G and amoxicillin and 0.25 microgram/ml for ticarcillin and cefotaxime. The MIC90s of oxacillin and cephalothin were 4 and 16 micrograms/ml, respectively. The MIC90s ranged from 1 to 4 micrograms/ml for aminoglycosides. Erythromycin, doxycycline, and rifampin displayed MIC90s of 0.12, 0.12, and 0.25 microgram/ml, respectively. MIC90s were 1 and 5 micrograms/ml for trimethoprim-and sulfamethoxazole, respectively, 64 micrograms/ml for fosfomycin, and 16 micrograms/ml for colistin and vancomycin. The study confirms the high levels of in vitro susceptibility of Bartonella agents to antibiotics.
Two simple Bartonella bacilliformis immunoblot preparation methods were developed. Antigen was prepared by two different methods: sonication of whole organisms or glycine extraction. Both methods were then tested for sensitivity and specificity. Well-defined control sera were utilized in the development of these diagnostic immunoblots, and possible cross-reactions were thoroughly examined. Sera investigated for cross-reaction with these diagnostic antigens were drawn from patients with brucellosis, chlamydiosis, Q fever, and cat scratch disease, all of whom were from regions where bartonellosis is not endemic. While both immunoblots yielded reasonable sensitivity and high specificity, we recommend the use of the sonicated immunoblot, which has a higher sensitivity when used to detect acute disease and produces fewer cross-reactions. The sonicated immunoblot reported here is 94% sensitive to chronic bartonellosis and 70% sensitive to acute bartonellosis. In a healthy group, it is 100% specific. This immunoblot preparation requires a simple sonication protocol for the harvesting of B. bacilliformis antigens and is well suited for use in regions of endemicity.
We report on a young patient with chronic cervical lymphadenopathy and serological and histological evidence for infection with Bartonella henselae and Toxoplasma gondii. Serological follow-up studies, including testing for avidity of Toxoplasma-specific immunoglobulin G antibodies, assisted in the determination of the cause of the acute lymphadenitis. Our results suggest that the clinical symptoms were most likely due to cat scratch disease rather than to acute toxoplasmosis.
Bartonella bacilliformis is the etiologic agent of Oroya fever in humans. Flagellum-mediated motility has been postulated as a major virulence factor for invasion of host cells. To address this hypothesis, we purified and characterized flagella from strain KC584 and then assessed their role in human erythrocyte association and invasion. Electron microscopy of the flagellar preparation showed a high concentration of filaments with a mean wavelength of 800 nm. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, immunoblot analysis, and KBr density gradient centrifugation indicated that the flagellar filament is composed of a polypeptide of 42 kDa. The flagellin is partially (ca. 50%) resistant to treatment with trypsin. The first 17 amino acid residues of the N terminus of the mature flagellin protein are GAAILTNDNAMDALQDL and show approximately 46% sequence identity to the residues of the N termini of two Caulobacter crescentus flagellin proteins. A monospecific polyclonal antibodies to the flagellin protein was generated, and its specificity was verified by both immunoblot and immunogold analyses. Human erythrocyte invasion assays performed with bartonellae exposed to the antiflagellin antiserum showed a significant decrease in bacterial association with and invasion of human erythrocytes in comparison with that in bartonellae exposed to preimmune rabbit serum or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) controls. These results suggest that flagella are an important component in the invasiveness of B. bacilliformis.
A genomic library of Bartonella bacilliformis was constructed and screened with human anti-Bartonella serum from a patient with the chronic, verruga peruana phase of bartonellosis. An immunoreactive clone isolated from this library was found to code for a 591-amino-acid protein with a high degree of sequence similarity to the FtsZ family of proteins. The degree of amino acid identity between the B. bacilliformis protein (FtsZ[Bb]) and the other FtsZ proteins is especially pronounced over the N-terminal 321 amino acids (N-terminal domain) of the sequence, with values ranging from 45% identity for the homolog from Micrococcus luteus (FtsZ[Ml]) to 91% identity for the homolog from Rhizobium melliloti, (FtsZ[Rm1]). All of the functional domains required for FtsZ activity are conserved in FtsZ(Bb) and are located within the N-terminal domain of the protein. FtsZ(Bb) is approximately twice as large as most of the other FtsZ proteins previously reported, a property it shares with FtsZ(Rm1). Like the Rhizobium homolog, FtsZ(Bb) has a C-terminal region of approximately 256 amino acids that is absent in the other FtsZ proteins. Evidence is presented that implicates this region in the protein's antigenicity and suggests that, unlike most other FtsZ homologs, FtsZ(Bb) is at least partly exposed at the cell surface. PCR analysis revealed that an ftsZ gene similar in size to the B. bacilliformis gene is present in Bartonella henselae, a bacterium that is closely related to B. bacilliformis.
Bartonella bacilliformis, the etiologic agent of bartonellosis, was characterized biochemically and by DNA hybridization, guanine-plus-cytosine content, genome size, and 16S rRNA sequencing. DNAs from the two strains in our collection exhibited 97% relatedness in hydroxyapatite reactions done at 55 degrees C (optimal reassociation criterion) and 100% relatedness in reactions done at 70 degrees C (stringent reassociation criterion). There was no evidence of divergence within the related sequences. B. bacilliformis DNA showed no relatedness to the cat scratch disease bacillus or to a strain of a second species in the same genus as the cat scratch disease bacillus in hybridization reactions done at 65 degrees C. The guanine-plus-cytosine contents of DNAs from the two B. bacilliformis strains were 39 and 40 mol%. Time course reassociation, done by determining spectrophotometrically the time required for one-half of the denatured DNA to form duplexes, indicated that B. bacilliformis has a genome size of approximately 4 x 10(8). The 16S rRNA sequence analysis indicated that B. bacilliformis is in the alpha-2 subgroup of the purple bacteria, class Proteobacteria, and that its closest relatives are Rochalimaea quintana and Brucella abortus. Strain KC583 (= Herrer 020/F12,63 = ATCC 35685) is proposed as the type strain of B. bacilliformis.
Cardiac arrhythmias, endocarditis, or myocarditis was identified in 12 dogs, of which 11 were seroreactive to Bartonella vinsonii subspecies berkhoffii antigens. Historical abnormalities were highly variable but frequently included substantial weight loss, syncope, collapse, or sudden death. Fever was an infrequently detected abnormality. Cardiac disease was diagnosed following an illness of short duration in most dogs, but a protracted illness of at least 6 months' duration was reported for four dogs. Valvular endocarditis was diagnosed echocardiographically or histologically in eight dogs, two of which also had moderate to severe multifocal myocarditis. Four dogs lacking definitive evidence of endocarditis were included because of seroreactivity to B. vinsonii antigens and uncharacterized heart murmurs and/or arrhythmias. Alpha proteobacteria were not isolated from the blood by either conventional or lysis centrifugation blood culture techniques. Using PCR amplification and DNA sequencing of a portion of the 16S rRNA gene, B. vinsonii was identified in the blood or heart valves of three dogs. DNA sequence alignment of PCR amplicons derived from blood or tissue samples from seven dogs clustered among members of the alpha subdivision of the Proteobacteria and suggested the possibility of involvement of one or more alpha proteobacteria; however, because of the limited quantity of sequence, the genus could not be identified. Serologic or molecular evidence of coinfection with tick-transmitted pathogens, including Ehrlichia canis, Babesia canis, Babesia gibsonii, or spotted fever group rickettsiae, was obtained for seven dogs. We conclude that B. vinsonii subsp. berkhoffii and closely related species of alpha proteobacteria are an important, previously unrecognized cause of arrhythmias, endocarditis, myocarditis, syncope, and sudden death in dogs.
Two of the 25 Bartonella isolates recovered during a prevalence study of Bartonella henselae bacteremia in domestic cats from the greater San Francisco Bay region were found to differ phenotypically and genotypically from all prior B. henselae isolates. These isolates, C-29 and C-30, which were recovered from the blood of two pet cats belonging to the same household, grew on chocolate agar as pinpoint colonies following 14 days of incubation at 35 degrees C in a candle jar but failed to grow on heart infusion agar supplemented with 5% rabbit blood. Additional phenotypic characteristics distinguished the isolates C-29 and C-30 from other feline B. henselae isolates. The restriction patterns obtained for C-29 and C-30 by citrate synthase PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis as well as by genomic RFLP could not be distinguished from each other but were distinctly different from that of the B. henselae type strain. In reciprocal reactions, DNAs from strains C-29 and C-30 were 97 to 100% related under optimal and stringent DNA reassociation conditions, with 0 to 0.5% divergence within related sequences. Labeled DNA from the type strain of B. henselae was 61 to 65% related to unlabeled DNAs from strains C-29 and C-30 in 55 degrees C reactions, with 5.0 to 5.5% divergence within the related sequences, and 31 to 41% related in stringent, 70 degrees C reactions. In reciprocal reactions, labeled DNAs from strains C-29 and C-30 were 68 to 92% related to those of the B. henselae type strain and other B. henselae strains, with 5 to 7% divergence. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain C-29 was 99.54% homologous to that of the type strain of B. henselae. On the basis of these findings, the two isolates C-29 and C-30 are designated a new species of Bartonella, for which we propose the name Bartonella koehlerae. The type strain of Bartonella koehlerae is strain C-29 (ATCC 700693).
Infrequent restriction site PCR (IRS-PCR) is a recently described DNA fingerprinting technique based on selective amplification of restriction endonuclease-cleaved fragments. Bartonella isolates associated with human disease and related nonhuman isolates were analyzed by IRS-PCR genomic fingerprinting. Preparation of DNA templates began with double digestion using three different restriction endonuclease combinations. Combinations included the frequently cutting endonuclease HhaI in conjunction with an infrequently cutting endonuclease, EagI, SmaI, or XbaI. Digestion was followed by ligation of oligonucleotide adapters designed with ends complementary to the restriction endonuclease sites. Amplification of fragments flanked with an EagI, SmaI, or XbaI site in combination with an HhaI site produced a series of different-sized amplicons resolvable into patterns by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). The pattern complexity was varied by the addition of selective nucleotides to the 3' ends of the EagI-, SmaI-, or XbaI-specific primers. Amplicons were also generated with fluorescently labeled primers and were subsequently resolved and detected by capillary electrophoresis. Analysis by traditional slab PAGE and capillary electrophoresis provided suitable resolution of patterns produced with the enzyme combinations EagI-HhaI and SmaI-HhaI. However, the combination of XbaI-HhaI produced too many fragments for sufficient resolution by traditional PAGE, thus requiring the better resolving properties of capillary electrophoresis. Due to the flexibility in modulating the pattern complexity and electrophoresis methods, these techniques allow for a high level of experimental optimization. The results provide evidence of the discriminatory power, ease of use, and flexibility of the IRS-PCR method as it applies to the identification of human-pathogenic Bartonella species.
Several Bartonella species have now been implicated as human pathogens. The recovery of these fastidious organisms in the clinical microbiology laboratory remains difficult, and current methods are still relatively insensitive. Thus, the bartonellae are good candidates for detection by PCR. We have developed a PCR assay which uses a single primer pair targeting the riboflavin synthase gene (ribC) and detected six Bartonella species that have been implicated in human disease, B. henselae, B. quintana, B. bacilliformis, B. clarridgeiae, B. elizabethae, and B. vinsonii subsp. berkhoffii. Species identification is achieved simply by restriction enzyme digestion of the amplicon. This PCR assay appears to be specific for the Bartonella genus because it failed to amplify DNA from several other bacterial species.
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