Volume 15, Number 12—December 2009
Another Dimension
A Groundhog, a Novel Bartonella Sequence, and My Father’s Death
Table
PCR, blood, and CSF Bartonella spp. culture and serologic results from an 86-year-old man with recent onset arthritis, memory loss, and encephalopathy*
Date | Location and sample type | Serologic results (titers) |
BAPGM enrichment platform |
||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
B. henselae | B. vinsonii subsp. berkhoffii | Direct extraction | Pre-enrichment culture | Bartonella isolate | |||
2005 Sep 23 |
Home/blood |
NA |
NA |
Neg |
Neg |
NIO |
|
2006 Aug 19 |
Home/blood |
NA |
NA |
Neg |
Neg |
NIO |
|
2008 Jan 11 | Hospital 2/blood | NA | NA | B. volans–like | Neg | NIO | |
Hospital 2/CSF |
NT |
NT |
B. henselae |
Neg |
NIO |
||
2008 Jan 28 | Hospital 2/EDTA blood | 16 | 16 | Neg | Neg | Bvb II | |
Hospital 2/ACD blood |
NA |
NA |
Neg |
Neg |
Bvb II |
||
2008 Feb 10 |
Home/blood |
<16 |
128 |
Neg |
Neg |
NIO |
|
2008 Mar 11 |
Hospital 3/blood |
<16 |
64 |
Neg |
Neg |
NIO |
|
2008 Apr 4 |
Hospital 3/blood |
<16 |
32 |
B. volans–like |
Neg |
Neg |
|
2008 Apr 28 | Home/blood | 16 | 64 | Neg | Bvb II | Neg |
*CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; BAPGM, Bartonella α Proteobacteria growth medium; NA, no available serum; Neg, DNA was not amplified by using Bartonella 16S–23S intergenic spacer primers; NIO, no isolate obtained by subculture after BAPGM pre-enrichment culture; Hospital 2, second hospitalization; NT, not tested; ACD, acid-citrate-dextrose; BvbII, B. vinsonii subsp. berkhoffii genotype II; Hospital 3, third hospitalization.