Bartonella spp., Coxiella burnetii and Rickettsia rickettsii in urban bats: molecular investigation of neglected zoonoses in Brazil

In the last decade, cases of bartonellosis, Q fever and Brazilian spotted fever have been recorded in Brazil. Despite this, their occurrence is still underestimated. This study aimed to investigate Bartonella spp., Coxiella burnetii and Rickettsia rickettsii DNA in organs of urban bats collected from the São Paulo state, southeastern Brazil. Spleen and liver samples were collected from 102 bats from urban areas and evaluated by real-time PCR. Positive samples were submitted to conventional PCR and subsequent sequencing for species identification. In total, 3.9% of the bats were positive for Bartonella spp. in the real-time PCR and 2.9% were sequenced. Of the positive bats, two were Artibeus lituratus and two were Myotis nigricans. The sequences obtained were analyzed using the BLASTn, identified as B. koehlerae (n = 2) and B. clarridgeiae (n = 1) and deposited in Genbank. A close phylogenetic relationship was observed between the bat isolates in the study and global and Brazilian isolates from cats and humans. No sample in the study was positive for C. burnetii or R. rickettsii. The presence of Bartonella associated with infection of cats and humans in Brazilian bats reflects the neglected state of the disease in the country and the need for epidemiological surveillance actions. Cat scratch disease is currently a public health problem in Brazil and needs to be tracked.