High prevalence of Bartonella quintana endocarditis in Sfax, Tunisia.
Bartonella quintana is a fastidious microorganism associated with blood culture negative endocarditis. In this study, 40 sera with cross-reactivity between Chlamydia species from patients from Sfax, Tunisia, were serologically tested for Bartonella. Thirteen sera were positive for Bartonella with IgG titers >/=1:800. Western blot and cross-absorption confirmed the diagnosis of Bartonella quintana endocarditis in 12 cases and Bartonella henselae endocarditis in 1 case. These sera were also positive by LightCycler nested PCR amplification for the rnpb (7 of 13) and fur (11 of 13) genes. Eleven patients had a definite diagnosis of endocarditis, which represents 9.8% of all endocarditis. Because Bartonella endocarditis seems to be very common in Tunisia, we suggest that its serology be performed systematically whenever endocarditis is suspected.
Znazen
Abir
A
Unité des Rickettsies, CNRS UMR 6020, Université de la Méditerranée, Faculté de Médecine, Marseille, France.
Rolain
Jean-Marc
JM
Hammami
Nader
N
Kammoun
Samir
S
Hammami
Adnane
A
Raoult
Didier
D
D000328:Adult; D004697:Endocarditis, Bacterial / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014205:Trench Fever / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D014416:Tunisia / Q000453:epidemiology