Cosegregation of a Novel Bartonella Species with Borrelia burgdorferi and Babesia microti in Peromyscus leucopus

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases Vol. 177; no. 2; pp. 409 - 416
• Main Authors: Hofmeister, E. K., Kolbert, C. P., Abdulkarim, A. S., Magera, J. M. H., Hopkins, M. K., Uhl, J. R., Ambyaye, A., Telford, S. R., Cockerill, F. R., Persing, D. H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL The University of Chicago Press 01.02.1998; University of Chicago Press
• Subjects: Animals; Babesiosis - complications; Babesiosis - diagnosis; Babesiosis - epidemiology; Bacteriology; Bartonella; Bartonella - genetics; Bartonella - isolation & purification; Bartonella Infections - complications; Bartonella Infections - diagnosis; Bartonella Infections - epidemiology; Biological and medical sciences; Biological taxonomies; Blood; Citrate (si)-Synthase - genetics; Citrates; DNA, Bacterial - analysis; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; Ehrlichia; Ehrlichiosis - diagnosis; Ehrlichiosis - epidemiology; Epidemiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Infections; Lyme disease; Lyme Disease - complications; Lyme Disease - diagnosis; Lyme Disease - epidemiology; Major Articles; Massachusetts - epidemiology; Mice; Mice, SCID; Microbiology; Minnesota - epidemiology; Peromyscus - microbiology; Peromyscus - parasitology; Phylogeny; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Population Surveillance; Prevalence; Ribosomal DNA; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Wisconsin - epidemiology; Minnesota; United States; North America; America; Massachusetts; Wisconsin; Protozoa; Bartonella; Apicomplexa; Borrelia burgdorferi; Mixed infection; Prevalence; Spirochaetaceae; Spirochaetales; Rodentia; Babesia microti; Reservoir; Wild animal; Epidemiology; Peromyscus leucopus; Vertebrata; Population survey; Mammalia; Bacteria; Bartonellaceae
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1086/514201

During surveillance for various tickborne pathogens in the upper Midwest during the summer and early fall of 1995, a Bartonella-like agent was detected in the blood of mice that were concurrently infected with Borrelia burgdorferi or Babesia microti (or both). The organism was isolated in pure culture after inoculation of blood from wild-caught mice into C.B-17 scid/scid mice. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA and the citrate synthase genes showed that the novel Bartonella species and a Bartonella isolate from a mouse captured on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, were closely related to each other and secondarily related to Bartonella grahamii and Bartonella vinsonii. Further analysis of Peromyscus leucopus blood and tissue samples demonstrated that the novel Bartonella species was exclusively found in conjunction with B. burgdorferi and B. microti. Patent coinfection with these agents may be relatively frequent in naturally infected mice.