The bacterial reservoir is constituted by humans only. Healthy blood carriers of the bacterium exist. Trench fever was described during the First World War. This non-lethal disease is constituted of recurrent febrile attacks associated particularly with osseous pains. The causative agent of the disease is B. quintana, transmitted by the body louse.
Humans seem to be the reservoir of that bacterium.
In some patients, B. quintana can be responsible for endocarditis, bacillary angiomatosis and chronic or recurrent bacteremia. All these bartonelloses are diagnosed by non-standard blood culture or by in vitro DNA amplification or by serological testing. Their treatment requires tetracyclines or chloramphenicol or macrolides. Bartonella elizabethae Carrion s disease Verruga Oroya fever Trench fever Endocarditis Bacillary angiomatosis.