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. 2017 Nov 7;10(1):553.
doi: 10.1186/s13071-017-2483-z.

Prevalence of Bartonella spp. by culture, PCR and serology, in veterinary personnel from Spain

José A Oteo  1 , Ricardo Maggi  2 , Aránzazu Portillo  1 , Julie Bradley  3 , Lara García-Álvarez  1 , Montserrat San-Martín  4 , Xavier Roura  5 , Edward Breitschwerdt  6
Affiliations

Prevalence of Bartonella spp. by culture, PCR and serology, in veterinary personnel from Spain

José A Oteo et al. Parasit Vectors. .

Abstract

Background: The genus Bartonella includes fastidious, facultative intracellular bacteria mainly transmitted by arthropods and distributed among mammalian reservoirs. Bartonella spp. implicated as etiological agents of zoonoses are increasing. Apart from the classical Bartonella henselae, B. bacilliformis or B. quintana, other species (B. elizabethae, B. rochalimae, B. vinsonii arupensis and B. v. berkhoffii, B. tamiae or B. koehlerae, among others) have also been associated with human and/or animal diseases. Laboratory techniques for diagnosis (culture, PCR assays and serology) usually show lack of sensitivity. Since 2005, a method based on a liquid enrichment Bartonella alphaproteobacteria growth medium (BAPGM) followed by PCRs for the amplification of Bartonella spp. has been developed. We aimed to assess culture, molecular and serological prevalence of Bartonella infections in companion animal veterinary personnel from Spain.

Methods: Each of 89 participants completed a questionnaire. Immunofluorescence assays (IFA) using B. vinsonii berkhoffii (genotypes I, II and III), B. henselae, B. quintana and B. koehlerae as antigens were performed. A cut-off of 1:64 was selected as a seroreactivity titer. Blood samples were inoculated into BAPGM and subcultured onto blood agar plates. Bartonella spp. was detected using conventional and quantitative real-time PCR assays and DNA sequencing.

Results: Among antigens corresponding to six Bartonella spp. or genotypes, the lowest seroreactivity was found against B. quintana (11.2%) and the highest, against B. v. berkhoffii genotype III (56%). A total of 27% of 89 individuals were not seroreactive to any test antigen. Bartonella spp. IFA seroreactivity was not associated with any clinical sign or symptom. DNA from Bartonella spp., including B. henselae (n = 2), B. v. berkhoffii genotypes I (n = 1) and III (n = 2), and B. quintana (n = 2) was detected in 7/89 veterinary personnel. PCR and DNA sequencing findings were not associated with clinical signs or symptoms. No co-infections were observed. One of the two B. henselae PCR-positive individuals was IFA seronegative to all tested antigens whereas the other one was not B. henselae seroreactive. The remaining PCR-positive individuals were seroreactive to multiple Bartonella spp. antigens.

Conclusions: High serological and molecular prevalences of exposure to, or infection with, Bartonella spp. were found in companion animal veterinary personnel from Spain. More studies using BAPGM enrichment blood culture and PCR are needed to clarify the finding of Bartonella PCR-positive individuals lacking clinical symptoms.

Keywords: Bartonella alphaproteobacteria growth medium; Bartonella henselae; Bartonella koehlerae; Bartonella quintana; Bartonella vinsonii berkhoffii; Spain; Veterinary personnel.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Institutional review board approval for this study was received from the Ethical Committee of Clinical Research from La Rioja (CEICLAR) on January 29, 2016 (Ref. CEICLAR PI-209).

Consent for publication

Not applicable

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests. This study was presented in part at the 12th Symposium of the Canine Vector Borne Disease (CVBD) World Forum, Athens, Greece, March 13–16, 2017 (oral presentation), and in the XXI Congreso de la Sociedad Española de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiología Clínica (SEIMC), Málaga (Spain), May 11–13, 2017 (oral presentations 071 and 072).

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