Sample required: Blood 🩸 - EDTA (2ml)
Bartonellosis is an emerging zoonotic disease caused by bacteria of the genus Bartonella.
Bartonellae are intraerythrocytic bacteria (they infect red blood cells) 🩸 which are of increasing medical importance in veterinary 🐶😺🐄 and human medicine🩺.
They have been associated with general symptoms like fever🤒🌡, fatigue and weight loss that are sometimes accompanied by many acute symptoms involving the lymph nodes, heart (endocarditis)❤️, liver (fibrosis, hepatitis), joints and the central nervous system (ataxia, convulsions)🧠, often followed by chronic manifestations.
In cats and dogs, the symptoms the major mode of transmission is represented by blood-sucking arthropods such as fleas or ticks .
Bartonella are also the cause of infections in humans, the best known being "cat scratch disease". As there is no vaccine against bartonellosis, prevention is mainly done by controlling arthropods (fleas /ticks) and the most commonly used treatment is with antibiotics.
In Madagascar, several species of Bartonella have been identified in domestic and wild animals that may affect human health too.
Mahaliana offers a PCR test🔬🧬🔬 that allows the detection of Bartonella in a blood sample🩸🧬🧬🔬.