[Prevalence of serum antibodies against Bartonella ssp. in a health population from the south area of the Seville province].
OBJECTIVE
To know the prevalence of serum antibodies against Bartonella spp. in a healthy population from south of Spain.


METHODS
A clinical-epidemiological survey was conducted among 146 healthy individuals. An indirect immunofluorescence commercial technique was used in a sample of serum from each individual to detect the present of IgG type serum antibodies against Bartonella spp., considering a result equal to or greater than 1:128 as positive.


RESULTS
Thirty six (24.7%) of all the subjects studied were asymptomatic carriers of antibodies against Bartonella spp. No crossed reactions against Chlamydia trachomatis, C. pneumoniae or Coxiella burnetti were observed. No significant association was found between the presence of seropositivity for Bartonella spp. and other factors.


CONCLUSIONS
There is an elevated frequency of asymptomatic carriers of antibodies against Bartonella spp. among the healthy population of our area. This suggests that most of the infections by Bartonella are subclinical.
García-García
J A
JA
Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Universitario de Valme, Sevilla.
Baquerizo
R
R
Vargas
J
J
Mira
J A
JA
Merchante
N
N
Macías
J
J
Pineda
J A
JA
D000328:Adult; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood*; D001473:Bartonella / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D013030:Spain
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D007074:Immunoglobulin G