Human Oestrus sp. Infection, Canary Islands

950 Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 13, No. 6, June 2007 To our knowledge, detection of Bartonella spp. DNA in sea turtle blood represents the fi rst molecular evidence of Bartonella infection in nonmammalian vertebrates. B. henselae infection, now reported in porpoises and sea turtles, may represent an emerging infection of marine animals. According to previous studies, immune status appears to affect disease severity, variation in clinical manifestations, the pattern of histopathologic features, and the relative ease of diagnostic detection of the organism (4,7). Although healthy at the time of sample collection, the captive rehabilitated sea turtles were known to have been sick or injured before sampling, potentially refl ecting immunocompromise. Whether detection of Bartonella spp. in blood of sea turtles is a function of prior immunosuppression induced by stressors is not known. Such stressors could include mechanical injury, malnutrition, environmental toxins, parasites, or concurrent bacterial or viral infections. Alternatively, sea turtles may be a natural marine reservoir for B. henselae or for a Bartonella sp. genetically related to B. vinsonii subsp. berkhoffi i. In summary, documentation of B. henselae and an organism genetically similar to B. vinsonii subsp. berkhoffi i in the blood of loggerhead sea turtles provides evidence that this genus is not ecologically limited to terrestrial reservoirs. The geographic distribution, prevalence of infection, carrier potential, mode of transmission, and pathogenicity of bloodborne Bartonella spp. in sea turtles await additional studies.