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Twice a year in southwestern Nigeria, during a traditional bat festival, community participants enter designated caves to capture bats, which are then consumed for food or traded. We investigated the presence of Bartonella species in Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) and bat flies (Eucampsipoda africana) from these caves and assessed whether Bartonella infections had occurred in persons from the surrounding communities. Our results indicate that these bats and flies harbor Bartonella strains, which multilocus sequence typing indicated probably represent a novel Bartonella species, proposed as Bartonella rousetti. In serum from 8 of 204 persons, we detected antibodies to B. rousetti without cross-reactivity to other Bartonella species. This work suggests that bat-associated Bartonella strains might be capable of infecting humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a prevalence study which examined the presence of bat-associated Bartonella infection in humans and other common animal species in Ghana, West Africa. The testing methods used are culture, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and indirect immunofluorescent assays for serologic testing. Based on the results, the human and domestic animal samples were negative for Bartonella species.

Bartonella quintana is a bacterium that causes trench fever in humans. Past reports have shown Bartonella spp. infections in homeless populations in San Francisco, California, USA. The California Department of Public Health in collaboration with San Francisco Project Homeless Connect initiated a program in 2007 to collect lice from the homeless to test for B. quintana and to educate the homeless and their caregivers on prevention and control of louse-borne disease. During 2007-2008, 33.3% of body lice--infested persons and 25% of head lice--infested persons had lice pools infected with B. quintana strain Fuller. Further work is needed to examine how homeless persons acquire lice and determine the risk for illness to persons infested with B. quintana--infected lice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A tularemia outbreak, caused by Francisella tularensis type B, occurred among wild-caught, commercially traded prairie dogs. F. tularensis microagglutination titers in one exposed person indicated recent infection. These findings represent the first evidence for prairie-dog-to-human tularemia transmission and demonstrate potential human health risks of the exotic pet trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We identified Bartonella vinsonii subsp. arupensis in pre-enriched blood of 4 patients from Thailand. Nucleotide sequences for transfer-messenger RNA gene, citrate synthase gene, and the 16S-23S rRNA internal transcribed spacer were identical or closely related to those for the strain that has been considered pathogenic since initially isolated from a human in Wyoming, USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study that investigated the prevalence of Bartonella spp. infections in rodent populations in downtown Los Angeles, California. The genetic diversity of Bartonella spp. in the blood of urban rats was evaluated by analyzing variations of the citrate synthase (gltA) gene. Rates of detection of Bartonella spp. infections in rats were compared between culture and molecular assays. Testing of captured rats showed they were carrying the putative human pathogens Bartonella rochalimae and Bartonella tribocorum. The presence of the bacteria among rodents in a densely populated urban area is described as a public health concern.

We describe an analytic approach to provide fine-scale discrimination among multiple infection source hypotheses. This approach uses mutation-rate data for rapidly evolving multiple locus variable-number tandem repeat loci in probabilistic models to identify the most likely source. We illustrate the utility of this approach using data from a North American human plague investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]