Objective: To know the prevalence of serum antibodies against Bartonella spp. in a healthy population from south of Spain.
Patients and methods: A clinical-epidemiological survey was conducted among 146 healthy individuals. An indirect immunofluorescence commercial technique was used in a sample of serum from each individual to detect the present of IgG type serum antibodies against Bartonella spp., considering a result equal to or greater than 1:128 as positive.
Results: Thirty six (24.7%) of all the subjects studied were asymptomatic carriers of antibodies against Bartonella spp. No crossed reactions against Chlamydia trachomatis, C. pneumoniae or Coxiella burnetti were observed. No significant association was found between the presence of seropositivity for Bartonella spp. and other factors.
Conclusion: There is an elevated frequency of asymptomatic carriers of antibodies against Bartonella spp. among the healthy population of our area. This suggests that most of the infections by Bartonella are subclinical.