ABSTRACT
In 2015, we investigated Bartonella quintana and typhus group rickettsiae in body lice from homeless persons in Bogotá, Colombia. We found B. quintana-infected body lice and seroprevalence of this microorganism in 19% of homeless persons and typhus group rickettsiae in 56%. Public health professionals should start preemptive measures and active vector control.
Subject(s)
Bartonella quintana/immunology , Insect Vectors/microbiology , Lice Infestations/microbiology , Pediculus/microbiology , Rickettsia/immunology , Trench Fever/microbiology , Adult , Animals , Bartonella quintana/genetics , Bartonella quintana/isolation & purification , Colombia/epidemiology , Female , Ill-Housed Persons , Humans , Lice Infestations/epidemiology , Male , Middle Aged , Rickettsia/genetics , Rickettsia/isolation & purification , Seroepidemiologic Studies , Trench Fever/epidemiology , Trench Fever/transmissionABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To report an unusual case of neuroretinitis caused by Bartonella quintana and its spectral-domain optical coherence tomographic (SD-OCT) features. METHODS: A 12-year-old girl presented with unilateral neuroretinitis with stellate maculopathy. Bartonellosis was confirmed after serologic testing for antibodies to B. quintana. RESULTS: Color photograph of the right eye revealed papillitis and stellate macular exudation. spectral-domain optical coherence tomography of the right eye revealed hyperreflective dots in the outer nuclear and outer plexiform layers, as well as disruption and loss of the external limiting membrane, ellipsoid zone, and interdigitation zone in the foveal area. CONCLUSION: The authors report an unusual case of neuroretinitis by B. quintana and its spectral-domain optical coherence tomographic findings.
Subject(s)
Bartonella quintana/isolation & purification , Eye Infections, Bacterial/diagnosis , Retina/pathology , Retinitis/diagnosis , Tomography, Optical Coherence/methods , Trench Fever/diagnosis , Antibodies, Bacterial/immunology , Bartonella quintana/immunology , Child , Diagnosis, Differential , Eye Infections, Bacterial/microbiology , Female , Humans , Retina/microbiology , Retinitis/microbiology , Trench Fever/microbiologyABSTRACT
The human bartonelloses are a group of diseases with a rapidly increasing clinical spectrum. Well known manifestations such as Carrion's disease, trench fever, cat-scratch disease, and bacillary angiomatosis are examples of Bartonella sp. infection. Along with these diseases, recurrent bacteremia, endocarditis, septicemia, erythema nodosum, erythema multiforme, trombocytopenic purpura and other syndromes have been reported having been caused by bacteria of this genus. The infectious process and the pathogenesis of these microorganisms are poorly understood. The bartonelloses may have a benign and self-limited evolution in a host, or a potentially fatal one. These bacteria can provoke a granulomatous or an angioproliferative histopathologic response. As these diseases are not yet well defined, we have reviewed the four main human bartonelloses and have examined unclear points about these emergent diseases.
Subject(s)
Bartonella Infections/microbiology , Bartonella/classification , Angiomatosis, Bacillary/diagnosis , Angiomatosis, Bacillary/microbiology , Angiomatosis, Bacillary/transmission , Animals , Bartonella/pathogenicity , Bartonella Infections/pathology , Bartonella Infections/transmission , Cat-Scratch Disease/diagnosis , Cat-Scratch Disease/microbiology , Cat-Scratch Disease/transmission , Cats , Humans , Immunocompromised Host , Trench Fever/diagnosis , Trench Fever/microbiology , Trench Fever/transmissionABSTRACT
The human bartonelloses are a group of diseases with a rapidly increasing clinical spectrum. Well known manifestations such as Carrion's disease, trench fever, cat-scratch disease, and bacillary angiomatosis are examples of Bartonella spp. infection. Along with these diseases, recurrent bacteremia, endocarditis, septicemia, erythema nodosum, erythema multiforme, trombocytopenic purpura and other syndromes have been reported having been caused by bacteria of this genus. The infectious process and the pathogenesis of these microorganisms are poorly understood. The bartonelloses may have a benign and self-limited evolution in a host, or a potentially fatal one. These bacteria can provoke a granulomatous or an angioproliferative histopathologic response. As these diseases are not yet well defined, we have reviewed the four main human bartonelloses and have examined unclear points about these emergent diseases
Subject(s)
Animals , Cats , Humans , Bartonella Infections/microbiology , Bartonella/classification , Angiomatosis, Bacillary/diagnosis , Angiomatosis, Bacillary/microbiology , Angiomatosis, Bacillary/transmission , Bartonella Infections/pathology , Bartonella Infections/transmission , Bartonella/pathogenicity , Cat-Scratch Disease/diagnosis , Cat-Scratch Disease/microbiology , Cat-Scratch Disease/transmission , Immunocompromised Host , Trench Fever/diagnosis , Trench Fever/microbiology , Trench Fever/transmissionSubject(s)
Bartonella Infections , Skin Diseases, Bacterial , Angiomatosis, Bacillary/microbiology , Angiomatosis, Bacillary/pathology , Bartonella Infections/immunology , Bartonella Infections/microbiology , Bartonella Infections/pathology , Cat-Scratch Disease/microbiology , Cat-Scratch Disease/pathology , Humans , Skin Diseases, Bacterial/immunology , Skin Diseases, Bacterial/microbiology , Skin Diseases, Bacterial/pathology , Trench Fever/microbiology , Trench Fever/pathologyABSTRACT
Typhus and other louse-transmitted bacterial infections in Peruvian sierra communities are known to occur but have not recently been assessed. In this study, 194 of 1,280 inhabitants of four villages in Calca Province in the Urubamba Valley were included. Thirty-nine (20%) of the 194 volunteers had antibodies to Rickettsia prowazekii, whereas 24 (12%) had antibodies to Bartonella quintana and 2 against Borrelia recurrentis. There was a significant correlation between the presence of infesting ectoparasites and antibodies to R. prowazekii, as well as between antibodies to R. prowazekii and ectoparasite infestation and fever in the previous 6 months. The proportion of inhabitants infested with ectoparasites was significantly higher in the highest-altitude village than in the other three villages. Two volunteers' antibody levels suggested a recent typhus infection, but only B. quintana DNA was amplified from lice. Epidemic typhus remains extant in the area, and B. quintana infections were encountered and documented for the first time in South America.
Subject(s)
Borrelia Infections/epidemiology , Insect Vectors , Phthiraptera , Relapsing Fever/epidemiology , Trench Fever/epidemiology , Typhus, Epidemic Louse-Borne/epidemiology , Adult , Animals , Antibodies, Bacterial/blood , Borrelia Infections/blood , Borrelia Infections/immunology , Borrelia Infections/microbiology , Female , Humans , Male , Peru/epidemiology , Phthiraptera/microbiology , Population Surveillance , Prevalence , Relapsing Fever/blood , Relapsing Fever/immunology , Relapsing Fever/microbiology , Trench Fever/blood , Trench Fever/immunology , Trench Fever/microbiology , Typhus, Epidemic Louse-Borne/blood , Typhus, Epidemic Louse-Borne/immunology , Typhus, Epidemic Louse-Borne/microbiologyABSTRACT
Infections with organisms of the genus Bartonella, for many years important only in South and Central America, have assumed significance in developing countries, especially in conjunction with the advent of the pandemic of the human immunodeficiency virus infection. New molecular and culture techniques have determined that these organisms cause new diseases such as bacillary angiomatosis as well as diseases the etiology of which have been unknown such as cat scratch disease. In this article, the microbiology, pathogenesis, histopathology and clinical manifestations of diseases caused by these organisms are discussed.