A new species of bacteria has come to light in Brazil. It’s genetically similar to two other disease-causing bacteria from the Andes, which are known to infect humans through sand fly bites.
According to a study published this summer in the journal Acta Tropica, researchers have discovered a new bacteria species in phlebotomine insects (sand flies) in the Amazon National Park in Brazil’s state of Pará. Its DNA is similar to that of two Andean bacteria in Peru, Bartonella bacilliformis and Bartonella ancashensis. While these cause Carrión’s disease and are also transmitted by phlebotomine sand flies, there is no evidence in Brazil of the new species causing disease. Nevertheless, the researchers argue that more research is needed.
In the same genus as disease-causing bacteria
“The discovery of Bartonella species in phlebotomine sand flies here in Brazil may indicate that B. bacilliformis and B. ancashensis, which cause Carrión’s disease or Peruvian wart, can adapt to non-Andean species and be transmitted in areas outside the Andes,” Eunice Aparecida Bianchi Galati, a co-author of the study and an associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology of the Public Health School of the University of São Paulo, said in a statement by the São Paulo Research Foundation.
Galati adds that “this isn’t too much of an extrapolation” because two species in Peru that can transmit B. bacilliformis are similar to two Brazilian species.
The newly discovered bacterial species is also a member of the genus Bartonella. Bartonellosis is a group of diseases, including Carrión’s disease, caused by Bartonella bacteria, which can be transmitted in various ways, such as fleas and lice in addition to sand flies. Among other symptoms, the disease usually manifests as a drawn-out infection in both humans and animals and can be problematic for immunocompromised patients. What’s more, the pathogen can exist unnoticed in an individual for significant periods of time.
“Bartonellosis is a neglected disease. The disease best known to health professionals is cat scratch disease, caused by Bartonella henselae,” explained Marcos Rogério André, a co-author of the study and a veterinary doctor at the Universidade Estadual Paulista. “It’s important to understand the real prevalence of these diseases, especially in isolated regions with low human development indices, where populations don’t have easy access to health services.”
Doctors and researchers, unite!
André and his colleagues studied Bartonella DNA in 297 specimens of female sand flies from near the banks of the Uruá and Tracoá rivers in Pará’s Amazon National Park, which hosts many visitors.
“We’re detecting a strain here in Brazil that’s never been described and is very similar to two species of the Bartonella genus that cause disease in Andean countries. Despite this similarity, we don’t yet have information on whether it can cause disease with distinct symptoms. That’s why we need to study them further,” André explained. He suggests that doctors and researchers should work together to investigate Bartonella bacteria in patients with unexplainable fevers.
“Could people with fever who are often sent home and who have repeated episodes of fever be infected with this pathogen?” he wondered. “Could patients with Leishmania also be co-infected with this new species of Bartonella?”
Here’s to hoping the new microbe doesn’t take from the bad side of the family.