Abstract
Summary
Healthy inhabitants of a village in the verruga zone were discovered to be asymptomatic carriers of Bartonella bacilliformis. Five individuals of a group of 53 investigated yielded positive blood cultures. Three of these had no past history of Carrion's disease; 2 had previously suffered from verruga peruana. It is possible that asymptomatic cases may constitute a reservoir of virus which is important in the natural transmission of the disease.
Peruvian guinea pigs were found to be spontaneously infected with an unidentified bartonella. This infection has not been found in guinea pigs from other regions than Peru, but was transmitted to splenectomized previously uninfected stock guinea pigs obtained in Boston. This guinea pig bartonella is being further studied, in an attempt to identify it more accurately.
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