Korean J Infect Dis.  2002 Oct;34(5):305-310.

Prevalence of antibodies to Bartonella henselae and Bartonella quintana in Korean Patients with Lymphadenopathy

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Internal Medicine, In-Ha University School of Medicine, Inchon, Korea. mhchung@nownuri.net
  • 2Department of Microbiology, In-Ha University School of Medicine, Inchon, Korea.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cat scratch disease (CSD) manifests as a self-limiting, regional lymphadenopathy, fever and constitutional symptoms following a cat scratch or close contact with cats. Bartonella henselae is a causative agent of CSD that is globally distributed. In Korea there are no case report of CSD and no reports on the seroprevalence of Bartonella henselae in patients with suspected CSD. In this study the prevalence of antibodies to Bartonella in patients with lymphadenopathies was evaluated.
METHODS
We evaluated serological responses of 31 patients (8 male, 23 female) with regional lymphadenopathies. The age of the patients ranged from 6 to 76 years old (mean+/-S.D., 30.6+/-14.3 years). Final diagnoses on the lymphadenopathies were tuberculous lymphadenopathy, Kikuchi's disease, Kawasaki's disease, and viral infection, but considerable cases remained undiagnosed. All sera were examined using MRL Diagnostics Bartonella IgG indirect immunofluorescent antibody (IFA) test kits (MRL Diagnostics, Cypress, California, USA) according to the manufac-turer's instructions.
RESULTS
Of the 31 patients, 21 (67.7%) patients showed positive titers of immunoglobulin G (IgG) to B. henselae (1 : 64 or higher). Twelve (38.7%) had IgG titers of 1 : 128 and four (12.9%) had titers of 1 : 256. Among these patients, three patients had a history of close contact with a cat or cat scratch. Twenty patients (64.5%) showed positive reactions against B. quintana.
CONCLUSION
This study revealed possible patients with cat scratch disease, but, unlike other countries, Bartonella seropositivity was not closely associated with cat contact. The further studies should be performed in a large number of patients including a control group and be accompanied with culture or polymerase chain reaction of extirpated lymph node.

Keyword

Cat scratch disease; Bartonella henselae; Bartonella quintana; Lymphadenopathy; Seroprevalence

MeSH Terms

Aged
Animals
Antibodies*
Bartonella henselae*
Bartonella quintana*
Bartonella*
California
Cat-Scratch Disease
Cats
Cupressus
Diagnosis
Fever
Histiocytic Necrotizing Lymphadenitis
Humans
Immunoglobulin G
Korea
Lymph Nodes
Lymphatic Diseases*
Male
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Prevalence*
Seroepidemiologic Studies
Antibodies
Immunoglobulin G
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