Bartonella bacilliformis is a pathogen that is endemic in some areas of the Andean region of Peru, southern Ecuador and southern Colombia. This pathogen causes so-called Carrion's disease, a biphasic disease with acute and chronic phases, called Oroya fever and "Peruvian wart" respectively. In the absence or delay of antibiotic treatment, the mortality rate in the acute phase is up to 88%. The acute phase is characterised by fever and severe anaemia and may be followed, several weeks or months later, by the chronic eruptive phase due to endothelial cell proliferation. No animal reservoir has been identified to date and it is considered that healthy carriers act as a pathogen reservoir in endemic areas.

The implementation of molecular and serological tests has led a great decline in transfusion-transmitted infections. Unfortunately, however, this has only occurred in high-income countries, whereas the scenario is different in low-income countries and in rural areas of middle-income countries, in which access to serological tests is sometimes not feasible or limited by economic factors. These factors result in a population that is more vulnerable and at increased risk of infections. Although the search for relevant pathogens that can be transmitted by blood transfusion is implemented worldwide, various pathogens that can be present in blood bank donations remain under studied, as in the case of some bacteria such as Leptospira spp. and Bartonella spp. Bartonella species are re-emerging blood-borne organisms, capable of causing prolonged infections in animals and humans, while leptospiros...