Rodent-associated Bartonella Febrile Illness, Southwestern United States

• Main Authors: Jonathan Iralu, Ying Bai, Larry Crook, Bruce Tempest, Gary Simpson, Taylor McKenzie, Frederick Koster
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2006-07-01
• Series: Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: Bartonella; liver function tests; hepatic injury; leukopenia; thrombocytopenia; fever
• Online Access: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/12/7/04-0397_article

Serum specimens from 114 patients hospitalized with a febrile illness were tested with an indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) using Bartonella antigens prepared from 6 species of sigmodontine rodents and 3 known human Bartonella pathogens: B. henselae, B. quintana, and B. elizabethae. Acute- and convalescent-phase serum samples from 5 of these patients showed seroconversion with an IFA titer >512 to rodent-associated Bartonella antigens. The highest titer was against antigen derived from the white-throated woodrat (Neotoma albigula), although this rodent is not necessarily implicated as the source of infection. Three of the 5 who seroconverted showed no cross-reaction to the 3 Bartonella human pathogens. Common clinical characteristics were fever, chills, myalgias, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, and transaminasemia. Although antibodies to Bartonella are cross-reactive, high-titer seroconversions to rodent-associated Bartonella antigens in adults with common clinical characteristics should stimulate the search for additional Bartonella human pathogens.