Seroprevalence of Bartonella spp. infection in HIV patients in Catalonia, Spain

Serum samples were collected from HIV patients treated at Hospital de Sabadell. Antibodies to B. henselae and B. quintana from 340 patients were examined by indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA). Significance levels for univariate statistical test were determined by the Mann-Whitney U test and χ2 test.Of 340 patients, 82 were women and 258 men, with a median age of 42.21 ± 10.35 years (range 16–86 years). Seventy-six (22.3%) patients reacted with one or more Bartonella antigens. Of all the factors concerning the seroprevalence rate being studied (age, sex, intravenous drugs use, alcohol consumption, CD4 levels, AIDS, HCV, HBV, residential area), only age was statistically significant.A high percentage of HIV patients presents antibodies to Bartonella and is increasing with age.The spectrum of Bartonella infections has expanded rapidly since the first HIV- infected patient with unusual, vascular proliferative lesions of bacillary angiomatosis (BA) was described in 1983 [1]. Of the 19 species of Bartonella described until now, only 10 were acknowledged as human pathogen species; B. bacilliformis, B. quintana, and B. henselae, are the most frequently described species [2-4], while B. elizabethae, B. vinsonii, B. washoensis, B. grahamii, B. clarridgeiae, B. koehlerae and B. alsatica were recently identified as responsible for a few cases of human infections [5-10]. Cat scratch disease (CSD), hepatic peliosis and some cases of bacteraemia and endocarditis are directly caused by some species of the genus Bartonella [11-14]. To determine the real incidence of Bartonella infections, we must study the seroprevalence in the general population and the principal reservoirs and vectors of infection transmission. The results yielded by different studies on seroprevalence vary depending on the type of population under study; thus, the research conducted on collective groups that present special characteristics or associated risk factors present a higher prevalence than that foun