The Relationship of Bartonella Bacilliformis to the Red Blood Cell as Revealed by Electron Microscopy

Ultrathin sections of erythrocytosis parasitized by B. bacilliformis have been examined by electron microscopy. The study concerns three Oroya Fever patients whose blood smears showed B. bacilliformis predominantly in its coccoid form as parastizing over 70 per cent of the red cells.

B. bacilliformis is termed as a bacterium in its structure and appears to lie not only on the host red cells but predominantly within them. Therefore, this organism might have the capacity to penetrate into the red cell. This finding does not change the basic concept regarding the mechanism of the anemia of Oroya Fever.