Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “BARTONELLA”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 919 records · Page 51Linked to original sources

Cat-scratch neuroretinitis.

BACKGROUND: Cat-scratch disease is a subacute regional lymphadenitis, usually preceded by a history of a cat scratch or exposure to kittens. The disease is caused by Bartonella henselae, and possibly Bartonella quintana, pleomorphic gram-negative rods formerly known as Rochalimaea henselae and Rochalimaea quintana. Ocular involvement is rare and typically manifests as either Parinaud's oculoglandular syndrome or neuroretinitis. Patients with neuroretinitis resulting from cat-scratch disease may be asymptomatic or experience mild-to-severe vision loss. The clinical features, angiographic appearance, differential diagnosis, and management of cat-scratch neuroretinitis are discussed. CASE REPORT: A 30-year-old white woman reported to the eye clinic with painless, decreased vision in the right eye. A diagnosis of cat scratch neuroretinitis was made on the basis of the history of cat scratch, clinical appearance, and angiographic findings. Treatment with oral ciprofloxacin restored vision to normal in 4 weeks. CONCLUSION: Painless vision loss associated with optic nerve swelling and macular star exudate should alert suspicion of systemic disease. Additional findings--including positive history of a cat scratch, lymphadenopathy, and flu-like symptoms--may indicate Bartonella henselae or Bartonella quintana infection. While treatment remains controversial, appropriate serology testing may aid in the diagnosis and management of the underlying infection.

Bartonella henselae↗

[Bartonellosis: emerging infection].

The spectrum of Bartonella infections in humans shows a constant increase. The number of Bartonella species responsible of zoonoses has increased from one to 7 during the past ten years. In addition numerous orphan clinical manifestations are now associated to Bartonella henselae infections. Animals and particularly domestic cat are the main reservoirs of Bartonella. Cats are healthy carriers of B. henselae and B. clarridgeiae, and can be bacteremic for months to years. Cat-to-cat transmission of the bacteria involves the cat flea in ab-sence of transmission by direct contact. Present knowledge on the etiology, clinical features and epidemiological characteristics of these emerging infections are presented.

Animals↗

Pathogenesis of the verruga of Carrion's disease. Ultrastructural studies.

Five patients having the "eruptive form" of Carrion's disease were found to have bacteria in the fine fibrillar interstitium of the verrugas. Features suggesting phagocytosis of the organisms by the verruga cells were observed. The bacteria are probably Bartonella because they are similar to Bartonella that parasitize red blood cells in the hematic phase of the disease. It is likely that after the hematic phase, unknown mechanisms, probably related to immunity, drive Bartonella organisms to the skin where they are destroyed and eliminated in the verrucous tissue. This suggests that verrucous tissue develops in order to eliminate Bartonella during the tissue phase of the disease.

Bartonella Infections↗

[Cutaneous vasculitis disclosing cat-scratch disease].

BACKGROUND: We describe a case of cat-scratch disease ingnaugurated by vascular purpura and discuss the role of the causal agent, Bartonella henselae. CASE REPORT: A 49-year-old woman presented vascular purpura without fever. Skin biopsy demonstrated leukocytoclasic vasculitis. She owned a cat and a had a scratch scar on the back of her left hand. A few days later, two inflammatory epitrochlear lymph nodes suppurated. Catscratch disease was confirmed by serology and PRC analysis of pus aspirated from the nodes. The purpura resolved spontaneously in three weeks. Left axillary adenopathy developed and suppurated. In spite of four antibiotics, the nodes subsided only ten months later, leaving scars. DISCUSSION: Two arguments favor Bartonella henselae as the causal agent in this cutaneous vasculitis. The simultaneous onset of the two diseases and the absence of another cause of vasculitis. This patient did not have Bartonella henselae endocarditis which could have explained this vasculitis. Only one case of hypersensitivity vasculitis has been described during cat-scratch disease. The exceptional feature of this association is perhaps the result of the unawareness of moderate or asymptomatic cat-scratch disease. Bartonella henselae was possibility caused hypersensitivity vasculitis.

Bartonella henselae↗

Diagnostic methods. Current best practices and guidelines for identification of difficult-to-culture pathogens in infective endocarditis.

IE is a serious, life-threatening disease. Because treatment must often be adapted to the pathogen involved, rapid identification of the etiologic agent is critical to successful management of each patient. When difficult-to-culture pathogens are involved, routine microbiologic tests, including blood culture, may remain negative. Because such cases may account for up to 31% of all IE cases, alternative diagnostic approaches are necessary. Among the etiologic agents of culture-negative endocarditis, C burnetii and Bartonella spp play a major role; each is responsible for up to 3% of episodes of IE. The authors therefore recommend the systematic use of specific serologies in all cases of clinically suspected endocarditis. The cross-reactivity between C burnetii, Bartonella spp, and Chlamydia spp is of diagnostic importance because all are potential etiologic agents of endocarditis. However, given that the levels of specific antibodies observed in Bartonella endocarditis are extremely high, low-level cross-reactions with other antigens should not lead to misdiagnosis, provided serology for all suspected agents is performed. When serologic test results are negative for both Bartonella spp and C burnetii, special staining by the Gram, Giemsa, Gimenez, PAS, Warthin-Starry, and Grocott methods may guide the use of new diagnostic tools such as PCR and tissue culture for isolation and identification of the causative agent. Such novel approaches may lead to more comprehensive patient evaluations and the discovery of new etiologic agents of IE.

Bacteria↗

[Bacillary angiomatosis of the liver, a suspected ultrasound diagnosis?].

Infections with Bartonella henselae or Bartonella quintana present with vasoproliferative lesions in skin and parenchymatous organs in immunocompromised patients. A case report of a 38-year-old patient with HIV infection and hepatitis B surface antigen status is described. The dominant clinical symptoms in our patient were fever and icterus. Ultrasonography of the abdomen showed a picture similar to that of liver cirrhosis. Irregular (echorich) nodes with hyper-vascularization were suspected to be hepatocellular carcinoma. Ultrasound guided puncture of one of these lesions and histological examination revealed the diagnosis of bartonella infection. Under antibiotic treatment with clarithromycin and doxycycline the fever and the hyperbilirubinemia decreased. The sonographically detectable lesions reduced in size. Vasoproliferative lesions in immunodeficient patients caused by bartonella infection show a characteristic slightly hyperechogenic irregular pattern at ultrasound. Typically, circumscribed hypervascularization might be shown by color Doppler imaging. Liver cirrhosis and diffuse tumor infiltration should be excluded.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗

Western blotting analysis of heat shock proteins of Rickettsiales and other eubacteria.

Heat shock proteins (Hsp) of four Rickettsia species, three Bartonella species, two Ehrlichia species, Orientia tsutsugamushi and seventeen other eubacterial species were characterized by the enhanced chemiluminescence Western blotting (WB) technique with antibodies raised against recombinant Hsp from Escherichia coli and purified GroES from R. typhi. Although E. coli DnaK and GroEL have epitopes that are highly conserved among the homologous proteins found in Rickettsia, Ehrlichia, O. tsutsugamushi, Bartonella and other Proteobacteria, anti-E. coli DnaK and GroEL monoclonal antibodies (Dasch et al. (1990) Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 590, 352-369) recognize less conserved epitopes. In contrast, epitopes on E. coli DnaJ, GrpE and GroES are much less conserved since anti-E. coli DnaJ, GrpE and GroES polyclonal antibodies did not recognize DnaJ, GrpE or GroES homologues in Rickettsia, Bartonella, Orientia, Ehrlichia and Legionella. Polyclonal antiserum prepared against GroES from R. typhi reacted strongly with purified 10 kDa GroES peptide from Rickettsia and Bartonella, and strongly bound to proteins of varying electrophoretic mobility from Wolbachia, Legionella, Proteus and Shigella flexneri and more weakly to other GroES homologues including that found in E. coli. Consequently, commercially available anti-DnaJ, anti-GrpE and anti-GroES polyclonal antibodies and anti-DnaK monoclonal antibody raised against their respective recombinant E. coli Hsp are not suitable for detection and identification of homologues of these proteins in a wide range of eubacteria.

Alphaproteobacteria↗

Isolation in endothelial cell cultures of chlamydia trachomatis LGV (Serovar L2) from a lymph node of a patient with suspected cat scratch disease.

An inguinal lymph node, removed from a 21-year-old Romanian man suspected of having cat scratch disease, was sent to our laboratory for Bartonella culture. Lymph node specimens were inoculated on blood-enriched agar and in an endothelial cell culture system using the centrifugation shell vial technique. Bacteria were grown in cell monolayers and detected as positive with an anti-Bartonella henselae rabbit serum. However, such bacteria were identified as Chlamydia trachomatis biovar LGV serovar L2 by PCR sequencing techniques. Pathological examination of tissue biopsies was compatible with either lymphogranuloma venereum or cat scratch disease. The shell vial system is suitable for isolation of intracellular pathogens responsible for chronic lymphadenopathies, including C. trachomatis, Bartonella species, Francisella tularensis, and mycobacteria. However, care should be taken when identifying Chlamydia spp. and Bartonella spp. using polyclonal antibodies, since species of both genera have common antigens which are responsible for cross-reactions.

Adult↗

Bartonellosis and human immunodeficiency disease (AIDS): L-forms as persisters, activating factors, and mechanism of disease.

Bartonella, genus Proteus, can cause immunodepressive disease. The organisms, in parasitized red blood cells, may invade the brain and every other system and space in the human body. Bartonella henselae is proposed to have a role in the pathogenesis of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) encephalopathy. Bartonella bacilliformis produces two known toxins that can induce spasm and angiomatosis, respectively, and manifest as diseases associated with symptomatic AIDS. The skin lesions of bartonellosis may be mistaken clinically and histologically for Kaposi's sarcoma. Bacteria of the genus Proteus produce L-forms: their elementary bodies may be mistaken for what are called the 'human immunodeficiency viruses' (HIV). Antibiotics, especially penicillin, induce bacteria to produce L-forms. Air pollution and high sugar, salt and fat diets are factors that may increase the lipid content of microbes that produce toxins and L-forms that may persist or revert to bacterial form.

AIDS Dementia Complex↗

Serological and molecular evidence of exposure to arthropod-borne organisms in cats from northeastern Spain.

One hundred sixty-eight cat sera from Spain were tested for IgG antibodies to Rickettsia conorii (Rc), Ehrlichia canis (Ec), Anaplasma phagocytophilum (Ap) and Bartonella henselae (Bh) antigens using IFA and for FeLV antigen and FIV antibody by ELISA. For 47 whole blood samples, PCR testing was performed for Rickettsia, Ehrlichia and Bartonella. Seroprevalences were: Bh (71.4%), Rc (44%), Ec (11.3%), FeLV (8.5%), FIV (7.4%) and Ap (1.8%). Bh antibodies were associated with seroreactivity to both Ec and Rc antigens. FIV antibodies were associated with illness and cats older than 2 years. Bartonella henselae and B. clarridgeiae (Bcl) DNA was amplified from seven and one sample, respectively.

Anaplasma phagocytophilum↗

Ocular bartonellosis.

PURPOSE: To review recent advances in the basic and clinical biology of Bartonella-related eye disease. METHOD: A review of the pertinent medical literature was performed. RESULTS: A number of novel Bartonella species have been identified over the past decade. Of these, Bartonella henselae, the etiologic agent in cat scratch disease, is most often associated with ocular complications, which may include Parinaud oculoglandular syndrome, neuroretinitis, and focal retinochoroiditis. Although cat and flea exposure appear to be the main risk factors for contracting cat scratch disease, the diagnosis of ocular bartonellosis relies primarily on the recognition of suggestive clinical signs in conjunction with positive serologic testing. B. henselae-associated ocular complications are usually self-limited but may be treated with doxycycline or erythromycin, with or without rifampin, when the infections are severe or sight-threatening. CONCLUSIONS: B. henselae infection is common and should be considered in patients with Parinaud oculoglandular syndrome, neuroretinitis, or focal retinochoroiditis, particularly when there is a history of cat or flea exposure.

Animals↗

[Abrupt visual loss in children. Three case studies of ocular bartonellosis].

PURPOSE: To evaluate the severity and progression of neuroretinitis in children caused by Bartonella. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Retrospective study of three consecutive cases. Patients underwent ophthalmological, medical, and radiological evaluations. Bartonella serology was positive. Intravenous treatment was started immediately with antibiotics and steroids. Patients were re-evaluated after visual acuity recovery. RESULTS: Progression was quickly positive with fosfomycin and fluoroquinolones in all cases. CONCLUSION: Bartonella induces neuroretinitis even without systemic signs of cat-scratch disease, with sometimes sudden bilateral blindness. Long-term progression is good but urgent medical treatment is necessary.

Adolescent↗

[Visceral localizations of cat-scratch disease in an immunocompetent patient].

Locoregional expression of cat scratch disease is well known, but despite advances in microbiology over the last 10 years leading to the description of two new bacteria (Afipia felis, Bartonella henselae) the infective agent responsible for cat scratch syndrome remains unknown. Until the 80s, only one systemic disease was attributed to infection with a germ in the Bartonella genus: trench fever. With the onset of the AIDS epidemic, new clinical syndromes caused by Bartonella bacteria have been described: bacillary angiomatosis, hepatic peliosis, cases of recurrent septicemia, cases of endocarditis, etc. More recently, atypical forms of cat scratch disease including systemic diseases have been reported in immunocompetent subjects. Although quite rare (1% of the cases), such types of expression can raise questions as to diagnosis both in terms of clinical signs and in terms of bacteriological findings. Clinical and experimental data do not provide a clear direction for treatment but would suggest that prolonged use of aminoglycosides is useful.

Adult↗

Evaluation of an extended blood culture protocol to isolate fastidious organisms from patients with AIDS.

Recent reports of fastidious pathogens suggest the need for special blood cultures for immunocompromised patients. Blood cultures from 45 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients with unexplained fever (> or = 38.0 degrees C) and CD4 counts of < 125 cells per mm3 were collected into a vacuum tube with sodium polyanetholsulfonate, an Isolator tube, and BACTEC aerobic and anaerobic bottles. Blood from the sodium polyanethosulfonate tube was inoculated into BACTEC 13A bottles, which were read weekly for 16 weeks. Isolator sediment was divided among eight agar media, including four sheep blood agar media: chocolate agar, brain heart infusion blood agar, heart infusion blood agar, and brucella blood agar. Other agar plates included Sabouraud's, buffered charcoal-yeast extract, Middlebrook 7H11 (M7H11) with hemoglobin, and M7H11 with mycobactin J. Incubation conditions included air and CO2-enriched aerobic, microaerophilic, and anaerobic atmospheres. Aerobic BACTEC broths received an acridine orange stain on day 8 and were subcultured at 2, 4, and 8 weeks. Anaerobic BACTEC bottles were subcultured at 4 weeks. All solid media, including subcultures, were incubated for 8 weeks, providing a total of 16 weeks of incubation for each specimen. Clinically significant isolates included eight Mycobacterium avium complex isolates and one each of Bartonella henselae, Bartonella quintana, Shigella flexneri, Klebsiella oxytoca, and Cryptococcus neoformans. All isolates were detected with commercially available media and, with the exception of Bartonella spp., were recovered within incubation times routinely used in most clinical laboratories.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Blood culture negative endocarditis: analysis of 63 cases presenting over 25 years.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse cases of blood culture negative endocarditis (BCNE) seen at St Thomas' Hospital, London, between 1975 and 2000. METHODS: Data on all episodes of endocarditis with negative blood cultures seen at St Thomas' Hospital between 1975 and 2000 were collected prospectively and analysed retrospectively. RESULTS: Sixty three patients with BCNE were seen during the study period: 48 (76%) with native and 15 (24%) prosthetic valve infection. BCNE accounted for 12.2% of the 516 cases of endocarditis seen at St Thomas' Hospital. The diagnosis of endocarditis was clinically definite by the Duke criteria in only 21% (7 of 34) of cases of pathologically proven native valve endocarditis but in 62% (21 of 34) of cases by the St Thomas' modifications of the criteria. Comparable figures for the 11 cases of pathologically proven prosthetic valve endocarditis were 45% and 73%. Despite negative blood cultures a causative organism was identified in 31 (49%) of the 63 cases: in 15 by serology (8 Coxiella burnetii, 6 Bartonella species, and 1 Chlamydia psittaci); in 9 cases by culture of the excised valve; in 3 by microscopy of the excised valve, on which large numbers of Gram positive cocci were seen although the culture was sterile; and in the other 4 by isolation from a site other than the excised valve (2 respiratory specimens, 1 from the pacemaker tip, and 1 from an excised embolus). In addition 5 of the 6 cases of Bartonella infection were confirmed by polymerase chain reaction study of the excised valve. Two thirds of the 32 patients for whom no pathogen was identified had received antibiotics before blood was cultured. Thus truly "negative" endocarditis was very uncommon (6% of the cases). CONCLUSION: If blood cultures are negative in definite or suspected endocarditis, serum should be analysed for Bartonella, Coxiella, and Chlamydia species antibodies, and the excised valve or (rarely) embolus should be analysed by microscopy, culture, histology, and relevant polymerase chain reaction. Other specimens may be relevant. The Duke criteria performed poorly in BCNE; St Thomas' additional minor criteria gave more definite diagnoses.

Endocarditis, Bacterial↗

Tickborne pathogen detection, Western Siberia, Russia.

Ixodes persulcatus (n = 125) and Dermacentor reticulatus (n = 84) ticks from Western Siberia, Russia, were tested for infection with Borrelia, Anaplasma/Ehrlichia, Bartonella, and Babesia spp. by using nested polymerase chain reaction assays with subsequent sequencing. I. persulcatus ticks were infected with Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (37.6% +/- 4.3% [standard deviation]), Anaplasma phagocytophilum (2.4% +/- 1.4%), Ehrlichia muris (8.8% +/- 2.5%), and Bartonella spp. (37.6% +/- 4.3%). D. reticulatus ticks contained DNA of B. burgdorferi sensu lato (3.6% +/- 2.0%), Bartonella spp. (21.4% +/- 4.5%), and Babesia canis canis (3.6% +/- 2.0%). Borrelia garinii, Borrelia afzelii, and their mixed infections were observed among I. persulcatus, whereas B. garinii NT29 DNA was seen in samples from D. reticulatus. Among the I. persulcatus ticks studied, no Babesia spp. were observed, whereas B. canis canis was the single subspecies found in D. reticulatus.

Anaplasma phagocytophilum↗

Somatostatin receptor scintigraphy in patients with cat-scratch disease.

AIM: Somatostatin receptor scintigraphy images various neoplastic, granulomatous, and auto-immune diseases. Cat-scratch disease in an infectious granulomatous disease usually affecting the lymphnodes. It is not known whether cat-scratch disease provides positive somatostatin receptor scintigrams. PATIENTS, METHODS: Twelve patients with lymphadenitis and suspected cat-scratch disease were investigated by immunofluorescence antibody testing and somatostatin receptor scintigraphy. Suppurated lymphnodes were extracted or drained and Bartonella henselae specific PCR was then performed. RESULTS: Eleven of 12 patients showed IgG antibodies against B. henselae. SRS showed positive scintigraphic results in 6 of 11 patients with CSD. B. henselae DNA was detected in tissue of lymphnodes from 4 of 5 patients with lymphnode extraction or lymphnode drainage. SRS demonstrated positive scintigrams in all patients with a positive PCR. In one patient with suspected CSD SRS was negative as well as antibody testing. CONCLUSION: Somatostatin receptor scintigraphy correlated with positive Bartonella henselae specific PCR tests and positive Bartonella henselae specific antibody tests in patients with CSD.

Animals↗

Rapid allelic discrimination from real-time DNA amplification.

A rapid method based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is used to identify the Factor V genotype or to identify the bacterial species Bartonella qunitana or Bartonella henselae. Allelic discrimination was performed on the post-PCR product. Thermal cyclers other than the 7700 sequence detection system can be used for PCR, after which the products can be transferred to the 7700 sequence detection system for measurement of fluorescence. The Delta R (the change in fluorescence) for each dye can be collected at the final thermal cycle and an xy scatterplot used to identify the specific genotype based on graph location. There are many advantages to this method. A maximum of 96 samples can be genotyped in less than 2 h. The method tolerates a wide range of DNA concentrations and can be determined without prior DNA determination. Fluorescence is very sensitive, with a low failure rate for allelic discrimination.

Alleles↗