title: Experimental model to evaluate the human body louse as a vector of plague.
abstract: Yersinia pestis has been found in human body lice during plague outbreaks. To evaluate the role that the human body louse plays as a vector of plague, we allowed lice to feed on rabbits made bacteremic by intravenous inoculation of 10(9) colony-forming units of 3 strains of Y. pestis. High mortality rates were observed in all lice 2 and 3 days after infection. The lice remained infected with the strains for their life span and excreted viable organisms in their feces from day 1, although they were unable to lay eggs. The lice infected with 2 virulent strains of Y. pestis transmitted the organisms during feeding to uninfected rabbits, which became septicemic and died of plague (with 1 exception) 1 day later. Infections were transmitted to naive lice that were fed on these rabbits, showing that lice can be vectors of Y. pestis in an experimental model.
authors.affiliation: Unite des Rickettsies, Institut Federatif de Recherche 48, Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, Unite Mixte de Recherche 6020, Universite de la Mediterranee, Marseille cedex 5 13385, France.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Houhamdi
authors.forename: Hubert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lepidi
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Drancourt
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Raoult
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016470:Bacteremia / Q000382:microbiology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000382:microbiology*; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D010374:Pediculus / Q000382:microbiology*; D010930:Plague / Q000635:transmission*; D011817:Rabbits; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015010:Yersinia pestis / Q000302:isolation & purification*