PATHOGENS

• Bartonella spp. are fastidious, facultative, intracellular gram-negative bacilli, members of the class Alphaproteobacteria.
• B. henselae, endemic worldwide, commonly infects feral and domestic cats; vector for cat-to-cat transmission is the cat flea. Transmitted by exposure to cat flea feces, cat scratches, or bite of cat flea. High organism burden in kitten saliva.

• B. quintana, etiologic agent of trench fever, spread by human body louse.
• B. bacilliformis, agent of Carrion’s disease, includes Oroyo fever (acute hemolytic anemia) and verruga peruana (Peruvian warts), sandfly is vector.