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Introduction

Bartonella is an emerging infection found in cities, suburbs, and rural locations. Routine national labs offer testing for only 2 species, but at least 9 have been discovered as human infections within the last 15 years. Some authors discuss Bartonella cases having atypical presentations, with serious morbidity considered uncharacteristic of more routine Bartonella infections. Some atypical findings include distortion of vision, abdominal pain, severe liver and spleen tissue abnormalities, thrombocytopenic purpura, bone infection, arthritis, abscesses, heart tissue and heart valve problems. While some articles discuss Bartonella as a cause of neurologic illnesses, psychiatric illnesses have received limited attention. Case reports usually do not focus on psychiatric symptoms and typically only as incidental comorbid findings. In this article, we discuss patients exhibiting new-onset agitation, panic attacks, and treatment-resistant depression, all of which may be attributed to Bartonella.
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Discussion

New Bartonella species are emerging as human infections. Most do not have antibody or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic testing at this time.
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Conclusion

We note that the number of Bartonella species that infect humans currently outpaces the number of Bartonella species that can be tested by top national labs. Some antibiotics seem to have an effect, but dosing and duration are not clearly established or indicated by a broad literature review. Further, clinical improvement and the cessation of symptoms do not always signify complete eradication. That is, it may be possible for a patient to relapse due to a significant medical stress to the body or a decrease in immune system capacity. Of greatest importance, we believe that Bartonella can enter the brain and cause not only well-documented neurologic disorders, but also some psychiatric disorders as well.

A controlled clinical trial was just published in the psychiatric literature, showing that minocycline is effective in treating negative symptoms in early phase schizophrenia. A prior pilot study, published in 2010 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, also showed that minocycline was effective in schizophrenia, helping executive functioning such as working memory. The authors postulate that the mechanism of action of minocycline would include affecting glutamate pathways in the central nervous system, blocking nitric oxide-induced neurotoxicity, or inhibiting microglial activation in the brain, causing inflammation. All of these are reasonable potential mechanisms of action. Neither author discusses the obvious fact however that minocycline is a tetracycline antibiotic and that it may be treating an occult infection. Have infections ever been reported to cause schizophrenia?

Lyme disease causes a wide range of psychiatric manifestations. Published research has shown a higher prevalence of antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in psychiatric patients than in healthy subjects. There is also a known geographic correlation of schizophrenia with ticks and tick-borne encephalitis, with peer reviewed literature showing an association of Lyme disease with schizophrenia. Other tick-borne infections, such as Bartonella (cat scratch disease) have also been reported to cause neurological and neurocognitive dysfunction, as well as causing agitation, panic disorder and treatment resistant depression. Minocycline, as well as other tetracycline antibiotics like doxycycline, are well known treatments for neurological manifestations of Lyme disease and associated co-infections like Bartonella. It is therefore plausible that a certain number of cases of severe psychiatric presentations are due to underlying infections, especially since Lyme disease is the number one spreading vector borne infection in the world.
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