Bartonellosis

Excerpt

Bartonella is a gram-negative intracellular facultative bacterium that is commonly implicated in causing zoonotic infections globally. Almost 20 different species of Bartonella have been isolated thus far among in which Bartonella henselae, Bartonella quintana, and Bartonella bacilliformis are frequently associated with infections in humans.

Trench fever also known as the five-day fever was first reported in Europe in soldiers. Trench fever is transmitted by body louse and is known to exclusively occur in humans.

Oroya fever was first reported in 1870 when a railway line was being built from Lima to Oroya in Peru. An outbreak of fever killed several thousand workmen and was named Oroya fever after the place it was first reported. Some workers who survived the outbreak developed verruga peruana which are nodular ulcerating skin lesions. It is commonly reported in mountainous parts of Peru, Columbia, and Ecuador in South America. In 1885, a Peruvian medical student Daniel Carrion inoculated himself with material from verruga which resulted in his death from Oroya fever. Oroya fever is also known as Carrion disease for this reason.