Bartonella genus includes an increasing number of species and subspecies, especially among wild felids, the positioning of which, with regards to the zoonotic species Bartonella henselae, is important to determine.

The aim of this study was to test the ability of a molecular typing technique to distinguish between various Bartonella isolates obtained from four different species of free-ranging and captive wild felids and to identify key profiles or markers allowing differentiating them from each other and/or from B. henselae or B. koehlerae.

A molecular typing technique for B. henselae based on the polymorphism of variable number tandem repeat units (VNTR) called MLVA (Multiple Locus VNTR Analysis) was applied to 24 Bartonella isolates from free-ranging or captive wild felids, 19 of which were obtained from California and five from three countries in Southern Africa, and compared with 49 B. henselae isolates from cats, dog or humans from the United States including the human ATCC (American Type Culture Collection) reference strain, B. henselae Houston 1.

MLVA allowed distinguishing Bartonella isolates from wild felids from either B. henselae or B. koehlerae. We confirmed infection of semi-captive cheetahs with an isolate similar to a Californian bobcat isolate. MLVA also confirmed the unique profile of a free-ranging cheetah isolate from Namibia.

Specific profiles were observed making MVLA a useful identification/classification tool of these wild felid isolates and suggesting that they are highly adapted to a specific feline reservoir. Finally, circulation of B. henselae isolates between domestic cats, wild felids and humans is likely occurring, based on the close allelic profiles of some isolates.

巴尔通体属包括越来越多的物种和亚种，尤其是在野生猫科动物中，就确定人畜共患的巴尔通体而言，其定位至关重要。

这项研究的目的是测试分子分型技术区分从四种不同种类的自由放养和圈养野生猫科动物中获得的各种巴尔通体分离物的能力，并鉴定关键特征或标记以使其彼此区分和/或从B.通体或B. koehlerae。

基于可变范围串联重复单元（VNTR）的多态性，称为MLVA（多基因座VNTR分析）的汉氏芽孢杆菌分子分型技术被应用于24株来自自由放养或圈养野生猫科动物的巴尔通体分离株，其中19种来自加利福尼亚州和南部非洲三个国家/地区的五个国家/地区，并与来自美国的猫，狗或人的49. henselae分离株进行了比较，其中包括人类ATCC（美国典型培养物保藏中心）参考菌株，hens。B. henselae Houston 1.。

MLVA可以区分巴尔氏杆菌分离株与亨氏芽孢杆菌或科氏芽孢杆菌的野生lid科动物。我们证实了类似加利福尼亚山猫分离株的分离株感染了半圈养猎豹。MLVA还证实了来自纳米比亚的自由猎豹隔离株的独特特征。

观察到的特定图谱使MVLA成为这些野生猫科动物分离株的有用的识别/分类工具，并表明它们高度适合特定的猫科动物水库。最后，根据某些分离株的近等位基因概况，可能会在家猫，野生猫科动物和人之间发生汉森芽孢杆菌分离株的循环。