• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.374-377
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• 2010

Cat scratch disease is a zoonotic disease usually caused by the gram-negative bacterium Bartonella henselae. It is transmitted commonly by scratch or bite from cats or kitten. Cat scratch disease typically affects children and young adults, who develop regional lymphadenopathy. In contrast, in immunocompromised hosts, bacteremia may occur, bacillary angiomatosis and bacillary peliosis hepatitis or splenitis are the most common manifestations. Bartonella henselae was detected in three of thirty veterinarians and Bartonella clarridgeiae was detected in one of thirty veterinarians by a novel nested polymerase chain reaction. Cat scratch disease will not be neglected, and it needs continuous studies as well as observation and prevention of this disease.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.38.1-38.12
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• 2023

Background: Poor disease management and irregular vector control could predispose sheltered animals to disease such as feline Bartonella infection, a vector-borne zoonotic disease primarily caused by Bartonella henselae. Objectives: This study investigated the status of Bartonella infection in cats from eight (n = 8) shelters by molecular and serological approaches, profiling the CD4:CD8 ratio and the risk factors associated with Bartonella infection in shelter cats. Methods: Bartonella deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was detected through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting 16S-23S rRNA internal transcribed spacer gene, followed by DNA sequencing. Bartonella IgM and IgG antibody titre, CD4 and CD8 profiles were detected using indirect immunofluorescence assay and flow cytometric analysis, respectively. Results: B. henselae was detected through PCR and sequencing in 1.0% (1/101) oral swab and 2.0% (1/50) cat fleas, while another 3/50 cat fleas carried B. clarridgeiae. Only 18/101 cats were seronegative against B. henselae, whereas 30.7% (31/101) cats were positive for both IgM and IgG, 8% (18/101) cats had IgM, and 33.7% (34/101) cats had IgG antibody only. None of the eight shelters sampled had Bartonella antibody-free cats. Although abnormal CD4:CD8 ratio was observed in 48/83 seropositive cats, flea infestation was the only significant risk factor observed in this study. Conclusions: The present study provides the first comparison on the Bartonella spp. antigen, antibody status and CD4:CD8 ratio among shelter cats. The high B. henselae seropositivity among shelter cats presumably due to significant flea infestation triggers an alarm of whether the infection could go undetectable and its potential transmission to humans.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.365-370
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• 2018

To confirm that Bartonella and Wolbachia were carried by sheep keds (Melophagus ovinus) in southern Xinjiang of China, 17 M. ovinus samples, which were collected in Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, were randomly selected. In this study, the Bartonella gltA and Wolbachia 16S rRNA gene were amplified through conventional PCR and the sequence of those amplified products, were analyzed. The results demonstrated that Bartonella was carried by all of the 17 sheep keds and Wolbachia was carried by 15 out of them. Bartonella was identified as B. melophagi. Three strains of Wolbachia were supergroup F and 1 strain has not been confirmed yet. It is the first report about Wolbachia supergroup F was found in sheep keds and provided the molecular evidence that B. melophagi and Wolbachia supergroup F were carried by sheep keds in Aksu Prefecture of southern Xinjiang, China. The 2 pathogens were found in sheep keds around Taklimakan Desert for the first time.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.140-145
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• 2017

Glomerulonephritis (GN) is sometimes associated with infective endocarditis (IE). Bartonella endocarditis is difficult to diagnose because it is rare and cannot be detected by blood culture. This is the first report of cytoplasmic anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-positive subacute endocarditis-associated GN caused by Bartonella infection in South Korea. A 67-year-old man was hospitalized due to azotemia. He complained of weight loss and anorexia for 6 months. A diagnosis of IE was made based upon echocardiographic detection of vegetations on the mitral and aortic valves and a Bartonella antibody titer of 1:2,048. Renal histology identified focal crescentic GN. Azotemia and proteinuria improved after doxycycline and rifampin treatment combining with steroid therapy.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.5
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• pp.553-559
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• 2019

The Alataw Pass, near the Ebinur Lake Wetland (northwest of China) and Taldykorgan (east of Kazakhstan), is a natural habitat for wild rodents. To date, little has been done on the surveillance of Bartonella spp. and Wolbachia spp. from fleas in the region. Here we molecularly detected Bartonella spp. and Wolbachia spp. in wild rodent fleas during January and October of 2016 along the Alataw Pass-Kazakhstan border. A total of 1,706 fleas belonging to 10 species were collected from 6 rodent species. Among the 10 flea species, 4 were found to be positive for Wolbachia, and 5 flea species were positive for Bartonella. Molecular analysis indicated that i) B. rochalimae was firstly identified in Xenopsylla gerbilli minax and X. conforms conforms, ii) B. grahamii was firstly identified in X. gerbilli minax, and iii) B. elizabethae was firstly detected in Coptopsylla lamellifer ardua, Paradoxopsyllus repandus, and Nosopsyllus laeviceps laeviceps. Additionally, 3 Wolbachia endosymbionts were firstly found in X. gerbilli minax, X. conforms conforms, P. repandus, and N. laeviceps laeviceps. BLASTn analysis indicated 3 Bartonella species showed genotypic variation. Phylogenetic analysis revealed 3 Wolbachia endosymbionts were clustered into the non-Siphonaptera Wolbachia group. These findings extend our knowledge of the geographical distribution and carriers of B. rochalimae, B. grahamii, B. elizabethae, and Wolbachia spp. In the future, there is a need for China-Kazakhstan cooperation to strengthen the surveillance of flea-borne pathogens in wildlife.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.311-314
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• 2010

Bartonella henselae is the causative agent of cat scratch disease. Although cats are the main zoonotic reservoirs of Bartonella spp., unusual cases of cat scratch disease caused by a domestic dog scratch have been recently reported. For the in vivo B. henselae infection, eight dogs were inoculated intradermally with $2{\times}10^8CFU$ of B. henselae Houston-1 suspended in 1 ml of phosphate buffered saline on day 0 and subsequent injections of the same amount given intradermally on days 21, 28, 36, 58 and 64. After in vivo canine B. henselae infection was confirmed by nested PCR, the IFN-$\gamma$ levels of the culture supernatant of PBMC stimulated with B. henselae was significantly higher in the B. henselae-PCR positive group than the B. henselae-PCR negative group. Our results showed that the canine immune responses against B. henselae were different from those of cats. Th1 activation by B. henselae stimulation was characterized in dog peripheral blood mononuclear cells, whereas Th2 activation was reported in B. henselae-infected cats.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.49 no.9
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• pp.983-986
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• 2006

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to investigate the presence of Bartonella henselae DNA, which is known as an etiologic agent of lymphadenitis, in fleas from dogs. Methods : The Bartonella henselae infection was investigated in 42 fleas from 22 dogs in Korea. By using seminested PCR targeting pap31 gene, B. henselae DNA was amplified from fleas. Results : B. henselae DNA was detected in seven fleas (7 of 42 fleas, 16.7 percent) from four dogs (4 of 22 dogs, 18.2 percent). To confirm these findings, we performed sequencing and identified the seven PCR products. Sequence analysis revealed that six sequences belonged to Huston-1 genogroup and one sequence to Marseille genogroup. Conclusion : These results may suggest that dogs could be an important source of B. henselae infection in children in Korea. This is the first report about the detection of B. henselae in fleas from dogs in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.87-89
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• 2014

In this study, the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma (T.) gondii and Bartonella (B.) henselae infection among stray cats in Daejeon City, Korea was surveyed. A total of seven samples were positive (7/118, 5.93%) for T. gondii including three samples from female cats (3/58, 5.2%) and four samples from male cats (4/60, 6.7%). There was no significant difference between the genders. A total 22 samples (22/118, 18.6%) were positive for B. henselae; nine were from females and 13 were from males. There was no significant difference between genders. Nineteen samples had a titer of 1 : 50, two samples had a titer of 1 : 100, and one sample had a titer of 1 : 200. The present study is the first to use serological tests to analyze B. henselae prevalence among stray cats in Korea.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.87-91
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• 2016

Deer serve as reservoirs of tick-borne pathogens that impact on medical and veterinary health worldwide. In the Republic of Korea, the population of Korean water deer (KWD, Hydropotes inermis argyropus) has greatly increased from 1982 to 2011, in part, as a result of reforestation programs established following the Korean War when much of the land was barren of trees. Eighty seven Haemaphysalis flava, 228 Haemaphysalis longicornis, 8 Ixodes nipponensis, and 40 Ixodes persulcatus (21 larvae, 114 nymphs, and 228 adults) were collected from 27 out of 70 KWD. A total of 89/363 ticks (266 pools, 24.5% minimum infection rate) and 5 (1.4%) fed ticks were positive for Anaplasma phagocytophilum using nested PCR targeting the 16S rRNA and groEL genes, respectively. The 16S rRNA gene fragment sequences of 88/89 (98.9%) of positive samples for A. phagocytophilum corresponded to previously described gene sequences from KWD spleen tissues. The 16S rRNA gene fragment sequences of 20/363 (5.5%) of the ticks were positive for A. bovis and were identical to previously reported sequences. Using the ITS specific nested PCR, 11/363 (3.0%) of the ticks were positive for Bartonella spp. This is the first report of Anaplasma and Bartonella spp. detected in ticks collected from KWD, suggesting that ticks are vectors of Anaplasma and Bartonella spp. between reservoir hosts in natural surroundings.

• Journal of the korean veterinary medical association
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• v.46 no.11
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• pp.1026-1037
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• 2010