Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Clinical Microbiology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Microbiology
. 1997 Aug;35(8):2120–2123. doi: 10.1128/jcm.35.8.2120-2123.1997

Coinfection with Bartonella clarridgeiae and Bartonella henselae and with different Bartonella henselae strains in domestic cats.

A N Gurfield 1, H J Boulouis 1, B B Chomel 1, R Heller 1, R W Kasten 1, K Yamamoto 1, Y Piemont 1
PMCID: PMC229915  PMID: 9230394

Abstract

Bartonella clarridgeiae and several strains of Bartonella henselae, the agent of cat scratch disease, with variations in the 16S rRNA gene have been found to infect the blood of cats. An epidemiologic study of Bartonella infection in domestic French cats revealed that of 436 cats sampled, 5 cats (1.1%) were coinfected with B. henselae and B. clarridgeiae and 2 cats (0.5%) were coinfected with two strains of B. henselae with variations in the 16S rRNA gene, B. henselae type I and type II. In an indirect immunofluorescence assay, coinfected cats tested positive for both Bartonella species at titers of > or = 128. Identification of the colonies was achieved by preformed enzyme analysis, PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the citrate synthase gene, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Colony size differences in mixed culture allowed differentiation of the Bartonella species. The coinfection of cats with two Bartonella species or variants of the same species raises concern about the possibility of dual infection in humans. The development of a polyvalent vaccine targeted against the most pathogenic or invasive strains may be a means of protecting cats and man from infection.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (256.5 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Abbott R. C., Chomel B. B., Kasten R. W., Floyd-Hawkins K. A., Kikuchi Y., Koehler J. E., Pedersen N. C. Experimental and natural infection with Bartonella henselae in domestic cats. Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis. 1997 Jan;20(1):41–51. doi: 10.1016/s0147-9571(96)00025-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bergmans A. M., Schellekens J. F., van Embden J. D., Schouls L. M. Predominance of two Bartonella henselae variants among cat-scratch disease patients in the Netherlands. J Clin Microbiol. 1996 Feb;34(2):254–260. doi: 10.1128/jcm.34.2.254-260.1996. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Birtles R. J., Harrison T. G., Saunders N. A., Molyneux D. H. Proposals to unify the genera Grahamella and Bartonella, with descriptions of Bartonella talpae comb. nov., Bartonella peromysci comb. nov., and three new species, Bartonella grahamii sp. nov., Bartonella taylorii sp. nov., and Bartonella doshiae sp. nov. Int J Syst Bacteriol. 1995 Jan;45(1):1–8. doi: 10.1099/00207713-45-1-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Breitschwerdt E. B., Kordick D. L., Malarkey D. E., Keene B., Hadfield T. L., Wilson K. Endocarditis in a dog due to infection with a novel Bartonella subspecies. J Clin Microbiol. 1995 Jan;33(1):154–160. doi: 10.1128/jcm.33.1.154-160.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Chomel B. B., Abbott R. C., Kasten R. W., Floyd-Hawkins K. A., Kass P. H., Glaser C. A., Pedersen N. C., Koehler J. E. Bartonella henselae prevalence in domestic cats in California: risk factors and association between bacteremia and antibody titers. J Clin Microbiol. 1995 Sep;33(9):2445–2450. doi: 10.1128/jcm.33.9.2445-2450.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Chomel B. B., Kasten R. W., Floyd-Hawkins K., Chi B., Yamamoto K., Roberts-Wilson J., Gurfield A. N., Abbott R. C., Pedersen N. C., Koehler J. E. Experimental transmission of Bartonella henselae by the cat flea. J Clin Microbiol. 1996 Aug;34(8):1952–1956. doi: 10.1128/jcm.34.8.1952-1956.1996. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Clarridge J. E., 3rd, Raich T. J., Pirwani D., Simon B., Tsai L., Rodriguez-Barradas M. C., Regnery R., Zollo A., Jones D. C., Rambo C. Strategy to detect and identify Bartonella species in routine clinical laboratory yields Bartonella henselae from human immunodeficiency virus-positive patient and unique Bartonella strain from his cat. J Clin Microbiol. 1995 Aug;33(8):2107–2113. doi: 10.1128/jcm.33.8.2107-2113.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Daly J. S., Worthington M. G., Brenner D. J., Moss C. W., Hollis D. G., Weyant R. S., Steigerwalt A. G., Weaver R. E., Daneshvar M. I., O'Connor S. P. Rochalimaea elizabethae sp. nov. isolated from a patient with endocarditis. J Clin Microbiol. 1993 Apr;31(4):872–881. doi: 10.1128/jcm.31.4.872-881.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Drancourt M., Birtles R., Chaumentin G., Vandenesch F., Etienne J., Raoult D. New serotype of Bartonella henselae in endocarditis and cat-scratch disease. Lancet. 1996 Feb 17;347(8999):441–443. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(96)90012-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Dupon M., Savin De Larclause A. M., Brouqui P., Drancourt M., Raoult D., De Mascarel A., Lacut J. Y. Evaluation of serological response to Bartonella henselae, Bartonella quintana and Afipia felis antigens in 64 patients with suspected cat-scratch disease. Scand J Infect Dis. 1996;28(4):361–366. doi: 10.3109/00365549609037920. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Higgins D. G., Sharp P. M. CLUSTAL: a package for performing multiple sequence alignment on a microcomputer. Gene. 1988 Dec 15;73(1):237–244. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(88)90330-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Higgins J. A., Radulovic S., Jaworski D. C., Azad A. F. Acquisition of the cat scratch disease agent Bartonella henselae by cat fleas (Siphonaptera:Pulicidae). J Med Entomol. 1996 May;33(3):490–495. doi: 10.1093/jmedent/33.3.490. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Koehler J. E., Glaser C. A., Tappero J. W. Rochalimaea henselae infection. A new zoonosis with the domestic cat as reservoir. JAMA. 1994 Feb 16;271(7):531–535. doi: 10.1001/jama.271.7.531. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Koehler J. E., Quinn F. D., Berger T. G., LeBoit P. E., Tappero J. W. Isolation of Rochalimaea species from cutaneous and osseous lesions of bacillary angiomatosis. N Engl J Med. 1992 Dec 3;327(23):1625–1631. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199212033272303. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Kordick D. L., Wilson K. H., Sexton D. J., Hadfield T. L., Berkhoff H. A., Breitschwerdt E. B. Prolonged Bartonella bacteremia in cats associated with cat-scratch disease patients. J Clin Microbiol. 1995 Dec;33(12):3245–3251. doi: 10.1128/jcm.33.12.3245-3251.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Matar G. M., Swaminathan B., Hunter S. B., Slater L. N., Welch D. F. Polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of a fragment of the ribosomal operon from Rochalimaea species for subtyping. J Clin Microbiol. 1993 Jul;31(7):1730–1734. doi: 10.1128/jcm.31.7.1730-1734.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Maurin M., Roux V., Stein A., Ferrier F., Viraben R., Raoult D. Isolation and characterization by immunofluorescence, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, western blot, restriction fragment length polymorphism-PCR, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis of Rochalimaea quintana from a patient with bacillary angiomatosis. J Clin Microbiol. 1994 May;32(5):1166–1171. doi: 10.1128/jcm.32.5.1166-1171.1994. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Regnery R. L., Anderson B. E., Clarridge J. E., 3rd, Rodriguez-Barradas M. C., Jones D. C., Carr J. H. Characterization of a novel Rochalimaea species, R. henselae sp. nov., isolated from blood of a febrile, human immunodeficiency virus-positive patient. J Clin Microbiol. 1992 Feb;30(2):265–274. doi: 10.1128/jcm.30.2.265-274.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Regnery R., Martin M., Olson J. Naturally occurring "Rochalimaea henselae" infection in domestic cat. Lancet. 1992 Aug 29;340(8818):557–558. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(92)91760-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Relman D. A., Lepp P. W., Sadler K. N., Schmidt T. M. Phylogenetic relationships among the agent of bacillary angiomatosis, Bartonella bacilliformis, and other alpha-proteobacteria. Mol Microbiol. 1992 Jul;6(13):1801–1807. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.1992.tb01352.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Relman D. A., Loutit J. S., Schmidt T. M., Falkow S., Tompkins L. S. The agent of bacillary angiomatosis. An approach to the identification of uncultured pathogens. N Engl J Med. 1990 Dec 6;323(23):1573–1580. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199012063232301. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Roux V., Raoult D. Inter- and intraspecies identification of Bartonella (Rochalimaea) species. J Clin Microbiol. 1995 Jun;33(6):1573–1579. doi: 10.1128/jcm.33.6.1573-1579.1995. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Schwartzman W. Bartonella (Rochalimaea) infections: beyond cat scratch. Annu Rev Med. 1996;47:355–364. doi: 10.1146/annurev.med.47.1.355. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Welch D. F., Hensel D. M., Pickett D. A., San Joaquin V. H., Robinson A., Slater L. N. Bacteremia due to Rochalimaea henselae in a child: practical identification of isolates in the clinical laboratory. J Clin Microbiol. 1993 Sep;31(9):2381–2386. doi: 10.1128/jcm.31.9.2381-2386.1993. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Welch D. F., Pickett D. A., Slater L. N., Steigerwalt A. G., Brenner D. J. Rochalimaea henselae sp. nov., a cause of septicemia, bacillary angiomatosis, and parenchymal bacillary peliosis. J Clin Microbiol. 1992 Feb;30(2):275–280. doi: 10.1128/jcm.30.2.275-280.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Yoshida H., Kusaba N., Omachi K., Miyazaki N., Yamawaki M., Tsuji Y., Nakahara K., Sumino M., Noudomi M., Shimokawa Y. Serological study of Bartonella henselae in cat scratch disease in Japan. Microbiol Immunol. 1996;40(9):671–673. doi: 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1996.tb01126.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. de Lamballerie X., Zandotti C., Vignoli C., Bollet C., de Micco P. A one-step microbial DNA extraction method using "Chelex 100" suitable for gene amplification. Res Microbiol. 1992 Oct;143(8):785–790. doi: 10.1016/0923-2508(92)90107-y. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Microbiology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES