A case of Bartonella neuroretinitis with macular star diagnosed by clinical, epidemiological, serological, and molecular data: resolution after initiation of antimicrobial therapy

• Published in: Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
• Main Authors: Walter de Araujo Eyer-Silva, Letícia Stéfanie Curvello Wutke, Alexandre de Carvalho Mendes Paiva, Guilherme Almeida Rosa da Silva, Fernando Raphael de Almeida Ferry, Dario José Hart Pontes Signorini, Jonathan Gonçalves de Oliveira, Elba Regina Sampaio Lemos
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT) 2020
• Subjects: Bartonella henselae; Cat scratch disease; Ocular bartonellosis; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/0037-8682-0516-2019; https://doaj.org/article/ec6ca45295c240e48330fc26cc8f52dc

Abstract The differential diagnosis of optic neuritis is broad and varied. We report the case of a 24-year-old Brazilian man who presented with five-week history of fever, malaise, myalgia, severe fatigue, tender right preauricular lymphadenopathy, and acute vision blurring associated with right optic disc swelling and exudates in a macular star pattern. His illness developed soon after an infestation of fleas broke out among his cats. Diagnosis of ocular bartonellosis was confirmed by serological and molecular analyses targeting amplification of Bartonella spp. htrA gene. Signs and symptoms only improved after initiation of antimicrobial therapy.