What Do We (not) Know About The Human Bartonelloses?

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.711

Diagnosis Of Bartonella Spp. Infection: Study Of A Bacillary Angiomatosis Case [diagnóstico Da Infecção Por Bartonella Spp.: A Propósito De Um Caso De Angiomatose Bacilar]

Several dermatoses are considered idiopathic diseases. Many times lesions such as erythema nodosum or erythema multiformis, for example, cannot have their etiology defined. Human infection caused by Bartonella spp. may determine several clinical syndromic expressions. Starting with a clinically, histologically and ultrastructurally documented bacillary angiomatosis case, a review of medical literature was undertaken to evaluate the available diagnostic criteria regarding infection caused by these agents. Histological evaluations were concluded to be, practically speaking, an important and useful diagnostic method, especially when serology is not available. ©2006 by Anais Brasileiros de Dermatologia.814349353Velho, P.E.N.F., (2001) Estudo das bartoneloses humanas e da Bartonella henselae: Infecção experimental, microbiologia e microscopia de luz e eletrônica de transmissão, , dissertação, Campinas SP, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Universidade Estadual de Campinas;Tappero, J.W., Mohle-Boetani, J., Koehler, J.E., Swaminathan, B., Berger, T.G., Leboit, P.E., The epidemiology of bacillary angiomatosis and bacillary peliosis (1993) J Am Med Assoc, 269, pp. 770-775Koelhler, J.E., Glaser, C.A., Tappero, J.W., Rochalimaea henselae infecion: A new zoonosis with the domestic cat as reservoir (1994) J Am Med Assoc, 71, pp. 531-535Levell, N.J., Bewley, A.P., Chopra, S., Churchill, D., French, P., Miller, R., Bacillary angiomatosis with cutaneous and oral lesions in an HIV-infected patient from the UK (1995) Brit J Dermatol, 132, pp. 113-115Loutit, J.S., Bartonella infections (1997) Cur Clin Top Infec Dis, 17, pp. 269-290Raoult, D., Infections humaines à Bartonella (1999) Presse Med, 28, pp. 429-434Maurin, M., Raoult, D., Bartonella (Rochalimaea) quintana infections (1996) Clin Microbiol Rev, 9, pp. 273-292Garcia-Caceres, U., Garcia, F.U., Bartonellosis: An immunodepressive disease and the life of Daniel Alcides Carrión (1991) Am J Clin Pathol, 95 (SUPPL. 1), pp. S58-S66Brenner, S.A., Rooney, J.A., Manzewitsch, P., Regnery, R.L., Isolation of Bartonella (Rochalimae) henselae: Effects of methods of blood collection and handling (1997) J Clin Microbiol, 35, pp. 544-547Baneth, G., Kordick, D.L., Hergarty, B.C., Breitschwerdt, E.B., Comparative seroreactivity to Bartonella henselae and Bartonella quintana among cats from Israel and North Carolina (1996) Vet Microbiol, 50, pp. 95-103Dehio, C., Sander, A., Bartonella as emerging pathogens (1999) Trends Microbiol, 7, pp. 226-228Regnery, R.L., Rooney, J.A., Johnson, A.M., Nesby, S.L., Manzewitsch, P., Beaver, K., Experimentally induced Bartonella henselae infections followed by challenge exposure and antimicrobial therapy in cats (1996) Am J Vet Res, 57, pp. 1714-1719Velho, P.E.N.F., Moraes, A.M., Uthida-Tanaka, A.M., Cintra, M.L., Gilioli, R., Ultrastructural changes in a standard strain of Bartonella henselae after passages through BALB/cAn mice (2002) Ultrastruct Pathol, 26, pp. 161-169Jensen, W.A., Fall, M.Z., Rooney, J., Kordick, D.L., Breitschwerdt, E.B., Rapid identification and differentiation of Bartonella species using a single-step PCR assay (2000) J Clin Microbiol, 38, pp. 1717-1722Guccion, J.G., Gilbert, C.L., Ortega, L.G., Hadfield, T.L., Cat scratch disease and acquired immunodeficiency disease: Diagnosis by transmission electron microscopy (1996) Ultrastruct Pathol, 20, pp. 195-20