Excerpt:

We describe a new Bartonella species for which we propose the name Candidatus Bartonella mayotimonensis. It was isolated from native aortic valve tissue of a person with infective endocarditis. The new species was identified by using PCR amplification and sequencing of 5 genes (16S rRNA gene, ftsZ, rpoB, gltA, and internal transcribed spacer region).

Bartonella species are small, fastidious, gram-negative, intracellular bacteria that cause culture-negative infective endocarditis. Six species have been documented to cause endocarditis in humans: B. quintana (1), B. henselae (2), B. elizabethae (3), B. vinsonii subsp. berkhoffii (4), B. koehlerae (5), and B. alsatica (6). We report a case of culture-negative endocarditis caused by a new Bartonella species, for which we propose the name Candidatus Bartonella mayotimonensis.