A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Bats as reservoir hosts of human bacterial pathogen, Bartonella mayotimonensis
Authors: Veikkolainen V., Vesterinen E., Lilley T., Pulliainen A.
Publisher: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Publication year: 2014
Journal: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Journal name in source: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Volume: 20
Issue: 6
First page : 960
Last page: 967
Number of pages: 8
ISSN: 1080-6059
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2006.130956
A plethora of pathogenic viruses colonize bats. However, bat bacterial flora and its zoonotic threat remain ill defined. In a study initially conducted as a quantitative metagenomic analysis of the fecal bacterial flora of the Daubenton's bat in Finland, we unexpectedly detected DNA of several hemotrophic and ectoparasite-transmitted bacterial genera, including Bartonella. Bartonella spp. also were either detected or isolated from the peripheral blood of Daubenton's, northern, and whiskered bats and were detected in the ectoparasites of Daubenton's, northern, and Brandt's bats. The blood isolates belong to the Candidatusstatus species B. mayotimonensis, a recently identified etiologic agent of endocarditis in humans, and a new Bartonella species (B. naantaliensis sp. nov.). Phylogenetic analysis of bat-colonizing Bartonella spp. throughout the world demonstrates a distinct B. mayotimonensis cluster in the Northern Hemisphere. The findings of this field study highlight bats as potent reservoirs of human bacterial pathogens.