Serological review of Bartonella henselae and Bartonella quintana infection among Malaysian patients with unknown causes of febrile illnesses
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-1-2022
Abstract
Limited information is available on human exposure to Bartonella infection, i.e., Bartone!!a henselae (causative agent of cat scratch disease) and Bartonella quintana (causative agent of trench fever) in West Malaysia. This study reports a review of serological findings obtained from patients attending to a teaching hospital in Klang Valley, Malaysia. An indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) was used to determine IgG and IgM antibody titers against B. henselae and B. quintana. In a pilot study conducted between 2013-2015, IgG antibodies against Bartonella spp. (either B. quintana and B. henselae) were detected in 14 (36.8%) of 38 patients who were clinically suspected of rickettsial infections, while IgM antibody was detected in 4 (10.5%) patients. This has prompted us to investigate the serologic responses of patients who were clinically suspected of other febrile causes besides rickettsia! infection. Of the 59 serum samples analysed in a follow-up investigation, Bartonella IgG antibodies were detected from 7 (11.9%) patients, of which 5 (27.8%) and 2 (18.2%) patients were clinically suspected of rickettsia! infection (n=18) and dengue (n=11), respectively. None of the sera obtained from the leptospirosis (n=10), legionellosis (n=10) and mycoplasma infection (n=10) groups were seropositive to Bartonella spp. The review of Bartonella serological findings in this study highlights that Bartonella infection is not uncommon and should be considered as one of the causes for febrile illness in Malaysia.
Keywords
Bartonella henselae, Bartonella quintana, IFA, Febrile illness
Divisions
fac_med
Funders
Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change (MESTECC), Malaysia [SF014-2015],PPP fund [PG255-2016A]
Publication Title
Tropical Biomedicine
Volume
39
Issue
3
Publisher
Malaysian Society of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine
Publisher Location
21-5-2, BLOCK, E, DIAMOND SQUARE, JALAN 3-50, OFF JALAN GOMBAK, KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA