ISOLATION OF BARTONELLA (ROCHALIMAEA) HENSELAE - EFFECTS OF METHODS OF BLOOD COLLECTION AND HANDLING

Citation
Sa. Brenner et al., ISOLATION OF BARTONELLA (ROCHALIMAEA) HENSELAE - EFFECTS OF METHODS OF BLOOD COLLECTION AND HANDLING, Journal of clinical microbiology, 35(3), 1997, pp. 544-547
Citations number
29
Categorie Soggetti
Microbiology
ISSN journal
00951137
Volume
35
Issue
3
Year of publication
1997
Pages
544 - 547
Database
ISI
SICI code
0095-1137(1997)35:3<544:IOB(H->2.0.ZU;2-Z
Abstract
Bartonella (Rochalimaea) henselae causes cat-scratch disease, bacillar y angiomatosis, peliosis hepatis, and fever in humans. B. henselae can be difficult to culture axenically, and as many as 5 weeks may be req uired before colonies are visible. We compared how different methods o f blood collection and handling affect isolation of this pathogen. Blo od specimens from B. henselae-infected cats were collected in both EDT A and Isolator blood-lysis tubes and were subsequently plated onto rab bit blood-brain heart infusion agar by using three different schedules : plating immediately, plating after 24 h at 25 degrees C, and plating after 26 days at -65 degrees C. Colonies were counted 14 and 35 days after plating. Blood collected in tubes containing EDTA, frozen at -65 degrees C, and then plated on blood agar yielded a median of 60,000 C FU/ml, compared with 25,333 CFU/ml after collection in the Isolator tu bes (P < 0.01). Frozen blood yielded the largest number of B. henselae colonies for any of the schedules tested. These results support previ ous observations that the Isolator system is more sensitive than tubes containing EDTA for isolation of B. henselae and suggest that, for ca t blood, collection in tubes containing EDTA and subsequent freezing m ay further improve the sensitivity of detection of B. henselae.