Kinetics of Disease Progression and Host Response in a Rat Model of Bubonic Plague
Plague, caused by the gram-negative bacterium Yersinia pestis , primarily affects rodents but is also an important zoonotic disease of humans. Bubonic plague in humans follows transmission by infected fleas and is characterized by an acute, necrotizing lymphadenitis in the regional lymph nodes that...
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Published in | The American journal of pathology Vol. 166; no. 5; pp. 1427 - 1439 |
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Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Bethesda, MD
Elsevier Inc
01.05.2005
ASIP American Society for Investigative Pathology |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Plague, caused by the gram-negative bacterium
Yersinia pestis
, primarily affects rodents but is also an important zoonotic disease of humans. Bubonic plague in humans follows transmission by infected fleas and is characterized by an acute, necrotizing lymphadenitis in the regional lymph nodes that drain the intradermal flea bite site. Septicemia rapidly follows with spread to spleen, liver, and other organs. We developed a model of bubonic plague using the inbred Brown Norway strain of
Rattus norvegicus
to characterize the progression and kinetics of infection and the host immune response after intradermal inoculation of
Y. pestis
. The clinical signs and pathology in the rat closely resembled descriptions of human bubonic plague. The bacteriology; histopathology; host cellular response in infected lymph nodes, blood, and spleen; and serum cytokine levels were analyzed at various times after infection to determine the kinetics and route of disease progression and to evaluate hypothesized
Y. pestis
pathogenic mechanisms. Understanding disease progression in this rat infection model should facilitate further investigations into the molecular pathogenesis of bubonic plague and the immune response to
Y. pestis
at different stages of the disease. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0002-9440 1525-2191 |
DOI: | 10.1016/S0002-9440(10)62360-7 |