Resistance to tick-borne Francisella tularensis by tick-sensitized rabbits: allergic klendusity.
Mammals become hypersensitive to ticks that feed upon them. That hypersensitivity was thought responsible for an observation that a large number of Francisella tularensis-infected Dermacentor variabilis failed to infect a rabbit previously exposed to ticks of that species. In a series of tests of that hypothesis, rabbits sensitized to ticks were often significantly more resistant than control animals to tick-borne tularemia. The conditions that determine the klendusity are thought to be variable and complex but the phenomenon must be of importance in the epidemiology of some arthropod-borne agents.
D000818:Animals; D004199:Disease Vectors; D005604:Francisella tularensis; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D011817:Rabbits; D013984:Tick Infestations / Q000276:immunology*; D014406:Tularemia / Q000276:immunology* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission