Bacteriological and molecular identification of Bartonella species in cats from different regions of China.

• Published in: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Main Authors: Congli Yuan, Caixia Zhu, Yanbing Wu, Xueying Pan, Xiuguo Hua
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2011
• Subjects: Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001301; https://doaj.org/article/764c37381638431fa911aed1600712d3

With the improvements in diagnostic techniques, Bartonella henselae (B. henselae) infection has recently been recognized to cause a widening spectrum of diseases. Cats are the natural reservoir hosts of B. henselae. The current study aims to investigate the prevalence of B. henselae infection in the cat populations in China. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and bacterial cultures confirm that 12.7% of the tested cats were positive for the infection. Old age and outdoor exposure were statistically associated with the infection. Multilocus sequence typing and eBURST analysis of the cat isolates collected in the present study show that 65.4% of the isolates belong to sequence type 1 (ST1). Three new STs (ST16-18) were identified in Midwestern China. These results may aid our understanding of the population structure of B. henselae in China and the relationship between human and cat strains in subsequent studies.