Short communicationDevelopment of a real-time PCR for Bartonella spp. detection, a current emerging microorganism

•A real-time PCR assay to detect Bartonella spp. species has been developed.•This assay has been tested with the most frequent species of Bartonella spp.•Its flexibility may allow to detect more species, even those not described yet.

A real-time PCR assay using SYBR Green was optimized to detect those Bartonella that are most frequently described as pathogens. The assay was genus-specific. Sequencing allowed to distinguish species. Assay sensitivity was determined using 10-fold serial dilutions of genomic DNA. Dynamic range was 100 ng-100 fg and sensitivity was 50 copies/reaction.