bartonella question

[Guest guest]

I don't know how many people here know a lot about Bartonella as a

chronic infection, but I have an urgent question and thought I'd try

you all--even a direction to go in to get the info would be great.

My daughter's test came back positive with Bartonella with a titre

of 320. (highest the doc has ever seen) About greater than 40 is

positive. My husband has also just tested positive for Bartonella.

Both my husband and daughter are also positive for lyme, and I've

assumed the bartonella infection is tick borne.

I went to the vet today figuring maybe I should test my beloved cat

too--cats are said to be carriers of bartonella,(the source of cat

scratch fever) and the vet, who knows that my daughter has been

really sick for 5 years and hardly out of bed did some research for

me. He said 95 percent of cats in homes where one human has

bartonella test out positive. He said further that in cats

bartonella is hard to get rid of and usually since it doesn't bother

cats and most people aren't made severely ill, cats aren't treated.

So, probably my cat has it, and he's not certain he can get rid of

it.

Okay, my question is, can someone suffering from chronic bart get re-

infected by their cat, if their immune system is out of whack? Does

anyone mind explaining why tick borne bartonella seems to be more

chronic than the usually acute cat scratch fever? i.e. do I have to

not have cats around? My vet pretty much thinks so, but I don't know

how much he knows about human bartonella.

I wish I could ask the lyme doc this, but he doesn't return calls.

Thanks