Bordetella hinziiin Rodents, Southeast Asia

To the Editor: Bacteria of the genus Bordetella are gram-negative, rod-shaped organisms that cause respiratory tract diseases in humans and animals. In 1995, Bordetella hinzii was isolated from poultry and 2 patients in the United States and France (1). This pathogen colonizes the respiratory tract of poultry and is closely related to B. avium, which is a commensal species in poultry. However, information on the etiologic role, hosts, and transmission routes of B. hinzii is incomplete because infections in human who did not have any close contact with poultry have been reported, mainly in immunocompromised patients (1-5). We obtained a single isolate of B. hinzii from blood agar culture during screening for bacterial zoonotic diseases in blood samples of rodents in Southeast Asia during the Ceropath project (www.ceropath.org).