Bacterial clearance and endocarditis in American opossums.
The American opossum is the only experimental animal that regularly develops bacterial endocarditis spontaneously. There was no relation between the ability of opossums to clear bacteria from the bloodstream and the subsequent development of endocarditis.
D000818:Animals; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D001769:Blood / Q000382:microbiology*; D004697:Endocarditis, Bacterial / Q000382:microbiology*; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D009154:Mutation; D009893:Opossums; D012486:Salmonella typhimurium / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014774:Virulence