title: Molluscan immunobiology: isolation of an Aeromonas formicans which escapes the internal defense system of Helix pomatia.
abstract: Bacterial infections are surprisingly rare in wild populations of gastropod molluscs. A strain of Aeromonas formicans, which has now been isolated, kills Helix pomatia, a land snail, when injected at doses greater than 10(6) viable cells g-1 snail weight. Koch's postulates were fulfilled with this organism. Initial clearance of Aeromonas from the circulation was followed within hours by a bacteremia; since neither culture supernatants, killed cells nor cell extracts killed Helix, there is evidently no specific lethal toxin; death appeared to be due to a general septicemia.
mesh_terms: D000333:Aeromonas; D000818:Animals; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000276:immunology; D006372:Helix, Snails / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D006458:Hemolymph / Q000276:immunology; D010586:Phagocytes / Q000276:immunology