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Background   Bartonella  is a genus of Gram-negative facultative intracellular Alphaproteobacteria of public health importance. Although they are known to mainly infect mammalian hosts with some blood-feeding arthropods having been confirmed as vectors, there is some evidence of  Bartonella  association with non-mammalian hosts including birds.    Methods  Here we used high-throughput sequencing of  16S  rRNA and Sanger sequencing of the citrate synthase ( gltA ) genes to test for the presence of  Bartonellaceae  in the blood of three migratory cavity nesting bird species, purple martins ( Progne subis ), tree swallows ( Tachycineta bicolor ) and eastern bluebirds ( Sialia sialis ) and their most prevalent and abundant nest ectoparasites,  Dermanyssus prognephilus  (mite),  Ceratophyllus idius  (flea) and  Protocalliphora sialia  (bird blow fly larva). We constructed maximum likelihood phylogenetic trees to verify the placement of the resulting sequences in the  Bartonellaceae .    Results  We found evidence of  Bartonella  in all three bird species and all three arthropod species tested. We report multiple instances of identical  Bartonella  sequences in both birds and parasites, leading to the likely hypothesis that these ectoparasites are potential vectors of  Bartonella . Our phylogenetic analysis suggests that ‘avian  Bartonella ’ may form its own sub-clade within the genus  Bartonella .    Conclusions  To the best of our knowledge, we provide the first confirmation of overlapping  Bartonella  strains among bird hosts and various species of nest-associated ectoparasites from the same system, suggesting a possible  Bartonella  host–vector relationship between these arthropods and a non-mammalian host. Our study adds to the growing appreciation of the  Bartonellaceae  as a phylogenetically diverse group with a wide range of hosts.

Expanding our view of Bartonella and its hosts: Bartonella in nest ectoparasites and their migratory avian hosts