Watch the Replay: _Bartonella_: The Blind Spot Pathogen
Watch the Replay: Bartonella: The Blind Spot Pathogen
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
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.