title: Bartonella (Rochalimaea) quintana causing fever and bacteremia in an immunocompromised patient with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
abstract: A 48-yr-old man with stage IV non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, became neutropenic following chemotherapy and developed a fever. His blood cultures were processed to enhance the yield of fastidious bacteria. A slow-growing, capnophilic Gram-negative rod was isolated. The febrile episode was treated with cefotaxime, imipenem and vancomycin and resolved. The bacterial isolate was identified as Bartonella (Rochalimaea) quintana by 16S-rDNA gene sequencing. The isolate showed 99.8% sequence homology with the type strain. This is the first isolation of Bartonella (Rochalimaea) quintana from a bacteremic patient in Australia. This bacterium is a fastidious Gram-negative rod requiring prolonged culture for its isolation. Patients with culture-negative pyrexia, especially immunocompromised patients, may need to be investigated for infection with this agent.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Vic.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rathbone
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Graves
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Odorico
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hellyar
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sinickas
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grigg
mesh_terms: D016470:Bacteremia / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*; D018413:Bartonella quintana / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D016867:Immunocompromised Host; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014205:Trench Fever / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*