Bartonella

Pronunciation: bar′tō-nel′ă

Definition: A genus of bacteria found in humans and in arthropod vectors; grows slowly in artificial media and may be recovered from blood cultures from infected patients; may be seen intracellularly in tissues and erythrocytes. Bartonella is a minute, gram-negative, coccobacillary organism, which may appear curved; it can cause an indolent, poorly defined, progressive disease in immunocompromised patients, including those with HIV infections.

[A. L. Barton]

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