Human Bordetella bronchiseptica infection related to contact with infected animals: persistence of bacteria in host.
Within a period of 2 1/2 years, Bordetella bronchiseptica was isolated four times from a 79-year-old woman with bronchopneumonia. We have demonstrated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis that this infection was related to contact with infected rabbits. The initial human B. bronchiseptica isolate had a phenotype characteristic of usual B. bronchiseptica clinical isolates; it produced toxin and adhesins, such as adenylate cyclase-hemolysin, filamentous hemagglutinin, and pertactin, and was able to induce lethality in a murine respiratory model. By contrast, although the three successive human isolates produced adhesins, they did not express adenylate cyclase-hemolysin and were unable to induce lethality. This implies that adenylate cyclase-hemolysin is required to induce lethality. We suggest that B. bronchiseptica may persist in the host, with expression of adenylate cyclase-hemolysin being essential for the initiation of infection and expression of adhesins being essential for persistence.
Gueirard
P
P
Centre National de Référence des Bordetelles, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
Weber
C
C
Le Coustumier
A
A
Guiso
N
N
D000262:Adenylyl Cyclases / Q000235:genetics; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D001885:Bordetella Infections / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology; D016950:Bordetella bronchiseptica / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D005260:Female; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D010641:Phenotype; D011817:Rabbits; D013997:Time Factors; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000209:etiology* / Q000382:microbiology
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; D000262:Adenylyl Cyclases