Molecular characterization of first human Bartonella strain isolated in Italy

The aim of this study was to characterize a Bartonella strain (BA-1) isolat ed from a blood culture of an Italian, human immunodeficiency virus-positiv e patient with bacillary angiomatosis. We analyzed the isolate using molecu lar biology methods such as whole-cell fatty acid analysis, PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis, type-specific 16S rRNA PCRs, sequen ce analysis of the 16S rRNA, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and arbitrar ily primed PCR. The BA-1 isolate turned out to be a Bartonella quintana str ain, similar but not identical to B. quintana Oklahoma, which was used as a control strain.