BACTEREMIA CAUSED BY A NOVEL BORDETELLA SPECIES, B-HINZII

Bordetella spp. cause respiratory tract diseases in warm-blooded anima ls. Only Bordetella bronchiseptica has been reported to cause bacterem ia in humans, and this rare infection usually occurs with pneumonia in immunocompromised patients. We describe ''Bordetella hinzii'' bactere mia in an AIDS patient without a respiratory illness. Combining bioche mical phenotyping with fatty acid analysis permitted preliminary ident ification of this previously undescribed pathogen; identity was confir med by DNA-DNA hybridization. This report extends the spectrum of huma n infections caused by the bordetellae.