A miraculous recovery: Bartonella henselae infection following a red ant bite

Infections caused by the Bartonella species are responsible for the human diseases collectively called ‘bartonellosis’. The clinically important human infections are mostly caused by the three species (eg, B. bacilliformis, B. quintana and B. henselae) of Bartonella out of the many progressively increasing identified species. Bartonella henselae transmitted by the arthropod vector, fleas, after cat bite is responsible for the rare multisystem cat scratch disease in humans. We present an extremely rare case of B. henselae contracted presumably through a red ant bite. The patient had a prolonged hospital stay for persistent encephalopathy due to delay in diagnosis and initiation of antimicrobial therapy. His hospital course was complicated by two episodes of pulseless electrical activity cardiac arrest related to pulmonary embolism. However, he recovered to his baseline status in the hospital with timely administration of systemic anticoagulation and antimicrobials. He was discharged home with no neurological deficits.