I. Bartonella henselae - Annales de Biologie Clinique Annales de Biologie Clinique. In immunocompetent patients, that bacterium is responsible for human cat scratch disease, characterized essentially by a localized lymph nodes enlargement in the vicinity of the entry site of the bacteria. Cultivation of the bacterium is fastidious, particularly in cases of cat scratch disease. The most efficient diagnostic test is the in vitro DNA amplification which has the drawback to require a lymph node sample.
Antibiotics are usually inefficient for the treatment of cat scratch disease.
By contrast, in immunocompromised patients, these infections are successfully treated for a more or less long time by macrolides or tetracyclines or rifampin. Bacillary angiomatosis Ctenocephalides felis Afipia felis Endocarditis Opportunistic infection.