1100 MANUAL OF DETERMINATIVE BACTERIOLOGY 



FAMILY II. BARTONELLACEAE GIESZCZYKIEWICZ.* 



(Bull. Intern. Acad. Polon. Sci., Classe Sci. Math. Nat., B (I), 1939, 9-30.)** 

 Small, often pleomorphic, rod-shaped, coccoid, ring-shaped, filamentous and beaded 

 micro-organisms, staining lightly with aniline dyes, but well with Giemsa's stain. 

 Gram-negative. Parasites of the erythrocytes in man and other vertebrates. Known 

 to be transmitted by arthropod vectors in some cases. The causative organisms of 

 bartonellosis in man, haemobartonellosis, grahamellosis and eperythrozoonosis in 

 the lower animals. Differ from the protozoa that also parasitize erythrocytes in that 

 the entire parasite stains with no differentiation into cytoplasm and nucleus. 



Key to the genera of family Bartonellaceae. 



1. Parasites of the erythrocytes and of fixed tissue in man. 



Genus I. Bartonella, p. 1100. 



2. Parasites of the erythrocytes of lower mammals, increased in susceptible animals 

 by splenectomy. Eradicated by arsenicals. 



Genus II. Haemobartonella, p. 1102. 



3. Parasites of the erythrocytes of lower mammals. Not increased in susceptible 

 animals by splenectomy. Not eradicated by arsenicals. 



Genus III. Grahamclla, p. 1109. 



4. Blood parasites, found on the erythrocytes and in the plasma of lower mammals. 

 Appear as rings, coccoids and short rods. Splenectomy activates latent infections. 



Genus IV. Eperythrozoon, p. 1111. 



Genus I. Bartonella Strong, Tyzzer and SeUards. 



{Bartonia Strong, Tyzzer, Brues, SeUards and Gastiaburii, Jour. Amer. Med. 

 Assoc, 61, 1913, 1715; not Bartonia Muhlenberg, in Willdenow, Neue Schrift Ges. 

 Nat. Fr., Berlin, 3, 1801, 444; not Bartonia Sims, Bot. Mag., 1804; not Bartonia 

 Grossman, Essais de Paleoconchologie Comparee, 4me Livr., Paris, 1901; Strong, 

 Tyzzer and SeUards, Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc, 64, 1915, 808; emend. Tyzzer and 

 Weinman, Amer. Jour. Hyg., 30 B, 1939, 143.) Named for A. L. Barton who des- 

 cribed these organisms in 1909. 



Parasites of the erythrocytes which also multiply in fixed tissue cells. On the red 

 blood cells in stained films, they appear as rounded or oval forms or as slender, 

 straight, curved or bent rods occurring either singly or in groups. Characteristically 

 in chains of several segmenting organisms, sometimes swollen at one or both ends and 



* Prepared by Dr. Ida A. Bengtson (retired), National Institute of Health, 

 Bethesda, Maryland and Dr. David Weinman, Parasitologist to the 1937 Harvard 

 Expedition to Peru, Boston, Mass., April, 1947. 



** Partial syn. Anaplasmidae has been proposed as a family name to unite the four 

 genera Anaplasma, Grahamella, Bartonella and Eperythrozoon by Neitz, Alexander 

 and du Toit (Onderst. Jour. Vet. Sci. and An. Ind., 3, 1934, 268). Since the name 

 is derived from Anaplasma, the nature of which is not fully understood and since 

 these authors consider the 4 genera as belonging to the protozoan order Haemosporidia, 

 it seems advisable not to consider this nomenclature for the present. The genus 

 Anaplasma (parasites of the red blood cells of cattle) created by Theiler (Transvaal 

 Govt. Vet. Bact. Kept. 1908-9, 7-64, 1910) consists of two species Anaplasma mar- 

 ginale and Anaplasma centrals. Recent workers are inclined to consider them to be 

 bacterial in nature as they do not show a differentiation into cytoplasm and nucleus. 



