Molecular investigation of Coxiella burnetii and Bartonella in heart valve specimens of patients with endocarditis in Iran.

BACKGROUND

Infective endocarditis (IE), is a medical condition that threatens human health. The aim of this study is the molecular investigation of Coxiella burnetii and Bartonella spp. in heart valves in Iran.

METHODS

In this study, 146 patients with pathological evidence of IE and underwent heart valve surgery between 2016 and 2020 were selected. Furthermore, positive samples for C. burnetii were genotyped by the Multi Spacers Typing (MST) method, and positive samples for Bartonella were sequenced on the 16SrRNA gene.

RESULTS

12 patients (8.2 %) were identified as positive cases of C. burnetii, and two novel genotypes of C. burnetii were identified using MST genotyping. Additionally, 15 patients (10.3 %) were diagnosed with Bartonella endocarditis, and all positive cases were identified as Bartonella quintana.

CONCLUSION

According to the identification of positive cases of Q fever endocarditis and Bartonella endocarditis, future studies in this field are suggested to focus on elucidating methods of prevention, diagnosis and treatment.