BARTONELLA HENSELAE INFECTION IN CHILDREN

Key words: Bartonella henselae, Lymphoadenopathy, Fever of unknown origin

The spectrum of clinical manifestations of Bartonella henselae infection in children is changed in recent years. The clinical features of 20 children with serologically proved B. henselae infection observed in the last 12 months in the Paediatric Department of the University of Pisa are described. Patients were 14 males and 6 female with a mean age of 7 years 4 months (range 13 months - 14 years 1 month). Peak incidence occurred in october through january. All children but one had a history of contact with kittens and in 6 it was possible to identify the inoculation site. Clinical manifestations included: infectious mononucleosis-like syndrome in 6, isolated regional lymphoadenopathy in 5, nodous erythema in 3, fever of unknown origin in 2, and single cases of granulomatous osteitis suggesting bone neoplasm, marked lymph node enlargement suggesting Burkitt lymphoma, inspissated, ileo-coecal valve suggesting Crohn’s disease, Parinaud’s oculoglandular syndrome and acute encephalitis. B. henselae infection is frequent in our geographic area, atypical clinical manifestation are the most frequent presentation and serology is particularly useful for diagnosis