Model of the common infection cycle of Bartonella spp. in their revervoir host(s). The different infection stages in the mammalian reservoir have been resolved by tracking bacteria in the blood of experimentally infected animals (lined box), while little is known on the mode of infection of the blood-sucking arthropod vector (dashed-lined box); d.p.i. (days post-infection). Adapted from Schulein et al. [121].