Latent Haemobartonella muris infection: its transmission and decline in an inbred, ectoparasite-free strain of Wistar rat.
Ectoparasite-free, SPF Italian Wistar rats were consistently found to carry a latent infection with Haemobartonella muris, activable by splenectomy. In an inbred line this diminished and eventually ceased in six generations. Experimental infection from wild rats demonstrated that this was not apparently due to immunity.
D000818:Animals; D001475:Bartonellaceae / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001769:Blood / Q000382:microbiology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains / Q000382:microbiology*; D012282:Rickettsia Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D012376:Rodent Diseases / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission*