INVESTIGATION OF BARTONELLA HENSELAE SEROPREVALENCE AND RELATED RISK

Bartonello henselae is an emerging infectious agent that mainly causes cat scratch disease, basillary angiomatosis and peliosis hepatitis. Although many basillary angiomatosis cases have been reported especially from the Mediterranean region of Turkey, adequate data about the seroprevalence of B.henselae in Turkey does not exist. The aim of this study was to investigate the seroprevalence of B.henselae in volunteer blood donors and the related risk factors. In this study, sera samples were randomly collected from 800 (771 man, 29 women; age range: 18-60 years) voluntary healthy blood donors admitted to Pamukkale University Research and Training Hospital. B.henselae (Houston-1 strain) total antibodies were investigated by an in-house indirect immunofluorescent antibody assay. Seropositivity was detected in 6% (48/800) of the donors. B.henselae (Houston-1) antibody titer was 1/64 in 40 of the donors, 1/128 in 4, 1/256 in 2, 1/512 in 1 and 1/1024 in 1 of the donors. Statistical analysis of epidemiological and demographical data revealed that high seroprevalence rates have been found in rabbit stockfarmers (p = 0.004), students staying at hostels (p = 0.04) and people with history of tick-bite (p = 0.03). No significant statistical differences were found in each related groups in terms of age, sex, chronic disorders, sport activities, outside behaviors, being injured by any wild or domestic animals, working outdoors, geographical properties of the area of inhabitance, hunting and travelling (p>0.05). One of the high titer (1/512) antibody positive subjects was a cat owner and had a history of phlebotomus bite, pediculosis and sporting in open area while 1/1024 titer positive case was a farmer and a dog owner. Our healthy blood donors' seroprevalence results are similar to those of other Mediterranean countries. The analysis of epidemiological data revealed that tick bite history and rabbit stockfarming were the risk factors for B.henselae infection. Variability and regional intensity of vectors may provide important clues to spreading disease. Consequently, these data showed that bartonellosis is an emerging disease in our country and detailed questionnaire for blood donors may be helpful to prevent transmission. Further larger scale research is necessary to determine the seroprevalence of B.henselae and analyse the related risk factors in Mediterranean-type climate regions