title: Susceptibility of various animals to Pneumocystis carinii infection.
abstract: Pneumocystis carinii (Pc) is an important opportunistic pathogen of immune compromised hosts, and is known to infect various animals. The present study observed the infection status of 6 mammals and 3 strains of albino rats with Pc after suppression of their immunity. Methyl-prednisolone was injected once a week and tetracycline was supplied with water for 5 to 21 weeks. Hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits, dogs, cats and pigs were negative by impression smear, and only the rats were found infected by Pc. All of the three strains of rats, Sprague-Dawley(SD), Wistar(W) and Fisher(F), were infected by Pc but W rats showed heavier degree of infection in earlier period than F or SD rats. The present findings suggest that W rat is the best among the animals used in the present study for production of Pc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea.
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D006224:Cricetinae; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D004285:Dogs; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D016867:Immunocompromised Host; D008775:Methylprednisolone; D011010:Pneumocystis / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D016720:Pneumocystis Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000469:parasitology; D011817:Rabbits; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013552:Swine
chemical_list: D008775:Methylprednisolone