Genome Analysis of ST1 Bartonella henselae, a Zoonotic Pathogen Causing Endocarditis in an Elderly Patient in China

Infective endocarditis (IE) is a rare disease but with high associated mortality. Currently, the mainstays of diagnosis are still echocardiography and blood cultures. Here, we reported a case of infective endocarditis with negative blood cultures, and blood and aortic valve tissue metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) results suggested Bartonella henselae. In addition, we obtained the whole genomic sequence of B. henselae ZJBH strain. To our knowledge, this is the first report of B. henselae genomic analysis isolated from clinic in China. Furthermore, we described the whole genome sequencing (WGS) data incorporating all B. henselae from diverse sources worldwide and shed light on underlying risk of B. henselae transmitted between cats and humans.