Watch the Replay: Bartonella: The Blind Spot Pathogen

Live date: Wednesday, February 25 · 12:00 PM ET

Bartonella infections are frequently overlooked, because they are difficult to detect. As fastidious, low-burden, intravascular pathogens, Bartonella species can persist for years while evading immune recognition and standard diagnostic testing, leading to complex, multisystem disease.

Join us for a live clinical webinar exploring Bartonella as a “blind spot” pathogen through real-world case studies that challenge traditional assumptions about transmission, tissue tropism, and diagnostic reliability. This session will examine why Bartonella infections are so often missed and how advanced diagnostic approaches can reshape clinical understanding of chronic and treatment-resistant illness.

Presented by: Edward Breitschwerdt, DVM, DACVIM (SAIM) Chief Science Advisor and Cofounder, Galaxy Diagnostics

About the Webinar

In this educational webinar, Dr. Edward Breitschwerdt will present a series of landmark clinical case studies illustrating the diverse and underrecognized manifestations of Bartonella infection. Drawing from decades of research and clinical investigation, the session highlights non-traditional transmission routes, including needlestick exposure, perinatal transmission, household spread, and tissue-localized infection, as well as the profound limitations of standard serologic and single-timepoint molecular testing.

Through cases spanning neurology, psychiatry, pediatrics, oncology, and One Health family investigations, attendees will gain practical insight into when to suspect Bartonella infection, why it frequently evades detection, and how advanced culture and molecular methods can uncover clinically relevant infection that would otherwise remain hidden.

Special focus is placed on:

  • Bartonella as a stealth, low-burden intravascular pathogen
  • Delayed, absent, or misleading antibody responses
  • Bloodstream versus tissue-localized infection
  • Diagnostic timing and test selection
  • The importance of a One Health perspective in complex cases
Learnings

✔  Why Bartonella is frequently missed by standard diagnostic approaches

 

How Bartonella transmission extends beyond classic vector models

✔ When negative serology does not rule out active infection

 

The clinical significance of delayed or absent antibody responses

 

When direct detection methods may offer critical diagnostic insight

 

How enrichment culture and advanced molecular methods improve detection


Why multisystem and neuropsychiatric presentations are common


How household, occupational, and animal exposures can inform diagnosis

Who Should Watch

Clinicians managing chronic, persistent, or multisystem illness

Providers evaluating unexplained neurologic or neuropsychiatric symptoms

Practitioners working with patients with suspected vector-borne exposure

Integrative and functional medicine clinicians

 

Healthcare professionals seeking deeper insight into Bartonella diagnostics

This session is intended for clinicians and licensed healthcare providers only.


It is not designed for patients or the general public.

Clinical Context

Bartonella infections may present with fatigue, headaches, neuropathy, cognitive or psychiatric symptoms, dermatologic findings, seizures, or treatment-resistant disease. In many cases, standard diagnostic approaches fail to explain these presentations.

 

Understanding Bartonella’s ability to persist at extremely low levels, evade immune detection, and localize to tissue compartments can help clinicians interpret discordant test results and refine diagnostic strategies in complex clinical scenarios.

What Registrants Receive

Education on Demand

Access to the live webinar

 

Reminder emails and the live event link

Replay & Slides

On-demand replay following the event

 

Downloadable presentation slides

Valuable Resources

Additional educational resources delivered via email

About Galaxy Diagnostics

Galaxy Diagnostics advances the detection of elusive vector-borne pathogens through transparent, evidence-driven science, empowering clinicians to diagnose confidently in complex or uncertain presentations.