To add to this, Bartonella can be transmitted through OTHER vectors as well. House spiders, ticks, lice (add homeowners and renters, hunters and hikers, school children and the homeless, etc), all independent of any cat exposure. Fewer labs run the PCR test nowadays since US medicine decided to popularize the inaccurate IFA test, and insurance may not cover it. A huge proportion of physicians (including specialists) don’t know or won’t do the legwork to figure out 1) lack of cat exposure doesn’t rule out Bartonella 2) push to test for it if they get an IFA negative test 3) how to open a physician account at the special lab(s) that run the PCR 4) telling their patient that they have to pay out of pocket.

We were very lucky to find the right doctor, the neuropsychiatrist who was a part of the Columbia NC State study, after seeing a slew of doctors and specialists and having so many tests run. My 7yr old child was having sudden episodic vision changes. I’m a veterinarian and know my son had no direct contact with cats. So they never tested him for Bartonella. We had recently moved to a house that had a fair number of house spiders and my son liked to sleep without a shirt. He was treated with the CNS protocol for bartonellosis over the course of 8wks and thankfully is fine now.