| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
American Journal of Pathology, Vol 149, 2161-2167, Copyright © 1996 by American Society for Investigative Pathology
REGULAR ARTICLES |
MA Scott, TL McCurley, CL Vnencak-Jones, C Hager, JA McCoy, B Anderson, RD Collins and KM Edwards
Department of Pathology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee 37232, USA.
Serological and epidemiological studies suggest that Bartonella henselae is the etiological agent of cat scratch disease. We designed a study to detect B. henselae in archival biopsies by polymerase chain reaction amplification of the 16S rRNA gene followed by Southern blot hybridization. Forty-two histologically defined cat scratch disease biopsies and eighteen controls were selected for blinded analysis. After testing, charts were reviewed for clinical, immunological, and microbial evidence of infection. Results were correlated with duration of illness and antimicrobial therapy. B. henselae DNA was identified in 27 of 42 (64%) histologically defined patients and 23 of 34 (68%) patients defined both clinically and histologically. There were no false positives (0 of 18). A small subset (n = 14) had cat scratch disease serological tests performed. B. henselae was identified in 8 of 10 serologically positive patients. Polymerase chain reaction detected 50% of our DNA-positive cases (most of these early in the clinical course). Southern blotting of amplicons both doubled sensitivity (detecting patients > 4 weeks into illness) and confirmed B. henselae as the causative species. Our study strongly associates B. henselae with cat scratch disease, suggesting that it may be the most likely etiological agent in the majority of patients with cat scratch disease.
This article has been cited by other articles:
 |
|
 |
|
  Y. Hansmann, S. DeMartino, Y. Piemont, N. Meyer, P. Mariet, R. Heller, D. Christmann, and B. Jaulhac Diagnosis of Cat Scratch Disease with Detection of Bartonella henselae by PCR: a Study of Patients with Lymph Node Enlargement J. Clin. Microbiol., August 1, 2005; 43(8): 3800 - 3806. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. Woestyn, N. Olive, G. Bigaignon, V. Avesani, and M. Delmee Study of Genotypes and virB4 Secretion Gene of Bartonella henselae Strains from Patients with Clinically Defined Cat Scratch Disease J. Clin. Microbiol., April 1, 2004; 42(4): 1420 - 1427. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K Bryant and G S Marshall Hepatosplenic cat scratch disease treated with corticosteroids Arch. Dis. Child., April 1, 2003; 88(4): 345 - 346. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
Z. Zeaiter, P.-E. Fournier, and D. Raoult Genomic Variation of Bartonella henselae Strains Detected in Lymph Nodes of Patients with Cat Scratch Disease J. Clin. Microbiol., March 1, 2002; 40(3): 1023 - 1030. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Sander and S. Penno Semiquantitative Species-Specific Detection of Bartonella henselae and Bartonella quintana by PCR-Enzyme Immunoassay J. Clin. Microbiol., October 1, 1999; 37(10): 3097 - 3101. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Sander, M. Posselt, N. Böhm, M. Ruess, and M. Altwegg Detection of Bartonella henselae DNA by Two Different PCR Assays and Determination of the Genotypes of Strains Involved in Histologically Defined Cat Scratch Disease J. Clin. Microbiol., April 1, 1999; 37(4): 993 - 997. [Abstract] [Full Text]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 T. Regnath, M. E. A. Mielke, M. Arvand, and H. Hahn Murine Model of Bartonella henselae Infection in the Immunocompetent Host Infect. Immun., November 1, 1998; 66(11): 5534 - 5536. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
