title: Exploratory study on pathogenesis of far-eastern spotted fever.
abstract: Far-eastern spotted fever is an emerging disease caused by Rickettsia heilongjiangensis, a tick-borne obligate intracellular bacterium. In this study, R. heilongjiangensis was used to infect BALB/c mice by inoculation of retro-orbital venous plexus to imitate a blood infection caused by tick biting. We found that R. heilongjiangensis rapidly entered the circulation for systemic dissemination and the pathogen existed in liver, spleen, lungs, and brain of the mice at least 9 days post-infection (p.i.). Severe pathological lesions were observed in liver, lungs, and brain at Day 6 p.i. In addition, the elevated levels of inflammatory cytokines, including interferon-γ, tumor necrosis factor, and CC chemokine, were detected in the infected organs at Day 3 p.i. Our results reveal that R. heilongjiangensis may cause an infection in BALB/c mice and the pathological lesions in the infected mice are associated with host inflammatory response induced by R. heilongjiangensis.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Pathogens and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, China.
authors: Changsong
authors: C
authors: Duan
authors: Yanfen
authors: Y
authors: Meng
authors: Xile
authors: X
authors: Wang
authors: Xiaolu
authors: X
authors: Xiong
authors: Bohai
authors: B
authors: Wen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018946:Chemokine CCL5 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D012281:Rickettsia / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D012282:Rickettsia Infections / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018946:Chemokine CCL5; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D007371:Interferon-gamma