Bartonella

Abstract

The genus Bartonella was named after Alberto Leonardo Barton, a Peruvian physician who in 1909 discovered Bartonella bacilliformis, the causative agent of Carrion's disease. B. bacilliformis was the only member of the genus Bartonella until 1993. In that year, the genus Bartonella underwent a major taxonomic reorganization. Relying on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and DNA hybridization, the genus Rochalimeae, consisting of the four species Rochalimeae quintana, Rochalimeae vinsonii, Rochalimeae henselae, and Rochalimmeae elizabethae, was united with the genus Bartonella. At the same time, the genus Bartonella was removed from the order Rickettsiales, family Rickettsiaceae and transferred to the family Bartonellaceae, resulting in a single genus within the family Bartonellaceae.1 In 1995, upon further 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, DNA hybridization, G + C content, and phenotypic characterization studies, Birtles proposed the unification of the genera Bartonella and Grahamella, and the reclassification of the two species Grahamella talpae and Grahamella peromysci within the genus Bartonella.2 Birtles also defined three new species: Bartonella grahamii, Bartonella taylorii, and Bartonella doshiae. In the subsequent years, the number of identified Bartonella spp. increased considerably, and new Bartonella species were identified as human and/or animal pathogens.