Bartonella quintanaTransmitted by Head Lice: An Outbreak of Trench Fever in Senegal

Hammoud, Alissa; Louni, Meriem; Fénollar, Florence; Basséne, Hubert; Sambou, Masse; Duclos, Nathalie; Diatta, Georges; Sokhna, Cheikh; Levasseur, Anthony; Raoult, Didier; Mediannikov, Oleg

doi:10.1093/cid/ciac937

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 29 publications

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“…After the war, there were several outbreaks of trench fever around the world, mostly in homeless populations and among immunocompromised patients. The outbreaks after the war occurred in Poland 42 , Mexico 43 , Tunisia, Ethiopia 44 , Burundi 45 and Japan 46 in the 20 th century, and some small-scale outbreaks have been reported in the 21 st century as well 47,48 .…”

Section: Historical Aspects Of B Quintanamentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of the CtrA cell cycle master regulator in Bartonella quintana

Watanabe

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This research project aimed to address the gaps in knowledge surrounding Bartonella quintana, with a specific focus on understanding its cell cycle dynamics and the mechanisms underlying its virulence. B. quintana is an intriguing pathogen due to its ability to persist for long periods within the human vascular and intraerythrocytic environment. Specifically, for B. quintana to reside inside erythrocytes without causing lysis, tight regulation of the cell cycle is required to limit its replication within this niche.CtrA is known as a master regulatory protein controlling the cell cycle in multiple alpha-proteobacteria, including C. crescentus. This study aimed to shed light on how this protein influences the cell cycle or morphology of B. quintana. The primary objective was to investigate the role of CtrA as a transcription factor within B. quintana and to evaluate the impact of CtrA overexpression on the bacterium.I first used a bioinformatics approach to identify B. quintana promoters that contained putative CtrA binding motifs. I then used a beta-galactosidase assay to investigate the impact of heterologous CtrA protein expression on the activity of two identified promoters, ftsH and ftsK. The ftsH homologue gene in C. crescentus encodes a zinc metalloprotease that is required for the stress response and that plays a role in cell division. The ftsK homologue encodes an essential protein that coordinates cell division and chromosomal segregation. The results suggested a potential repressive role of CtrA on the ftsH gene within B. quintana. Expression from the ftsK promoter, however, was not detected, either with or without CtrA.Because CtrA is an essential protein in most alpha-proteobacteria, I attempted to construct a conditional mutant. Although this strain could not be achieved in this project, the strain carrying the complementation plasmid was used to study the effects of CtrA overexpression in B. quintana. Distinct outcomes were noted in terms of viability and chromosome content between the wildtype B. quintana and those carrying the inducible ctrA plasmid. Differences in morphology were not noted, but this could be due to the lack of time available to optimise microscopy protocols.The alteration in viability and chromosomal contents observed, when ctrA expression was induced on a plasmid, suggests a potential role for CtrA in the cell cycle of B. quintana. Further investigation is warranted to explore the functions of CtrA in B. quintana, not only in the context of the cell cycle but also in other aspects of B. quintana morphology and pathogenesis.

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Section: Historical Aspects Of B Quintanamentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of the CtrA cell cycle master regulator in Bartonella quintana

Watanabe

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Update on common Bartonella infections

Mira,

Theel

2024

Clinical Microbiology Newsletter

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Bartonella quintana Endocarditis: A Systematic Review of Individual Cases

Boodman,

Gupta,

Nelson

et al. 2023

Clinical Infectious Diseases

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Introduction Bartonella quintana is a louse-borne bacterium that remains a neglected cause of endocarditis in low-resource settings. Our understanding of risk factors, clinical manifestations and treatment of B. quintana endocarditis are biased by older studies from high-income countries. Methods We searched Pubmed Central, Medline, Scopus, Embase, EBSCO (CABI) Global Health, Web of Science and international trial registers for articles published before March 2023 with terms related to Bartonella quintana endocarditis. We included articles containing case-level information on B. quintana endocarditis and extracted data related to patient demographics, clinical features, diagnostic testing, treatment and outcome. Results A total of 975 records were identified, of which 569 duplicates were removed prior to screening. 84 articles were eligible for inclusion, describing a total of 167 cases. Infections were acquired in 40 different countries. 62 cases (37.1%) were acquired in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Disproportionately more female and pediatric patients were from LMICs. More patients presented with heart failure (n = 70/167 [41.9%]) than fever (n = 65/167 [38.9%]). Mean time from symptom onset to presentation was 5.1 months. 25.7% of cases (n = 43/167) were associated with embolization, most commonly to the spleen and brain. 65.5% of antimicrobial regimens included doxycycline. The vast majority of cases underwent valve replacement surgery (n = 154/167, [98.0%]). Overall case fatality rate was 9.6% (n = 16/167). Conclusion B. quintana endocarditis has a global distribution, and long delays between symptom onset and presentation frequently occur. Improved clinician education and diagnostic capacity are needed to screen at-risk populations and identify infection before endocarditis develops.

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Bartonella quintanaTransmitted by Head Lice: An Outbreak of Trench Fever in Senegal

Cited by 7 publications

References 29 publications

Investigation of the CtrA cell cycle master regulator in Bartonella quintana

Investigation of the CtrA cell cycle master regulator in Bartonella quintana

Update on common Bartonella infections

Bartonella quintana Endocarditis: A Systematic Review of Individual Cases

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