title: Experimental infection of three laboratory mouse stocks with a shrew origin Bartonella elizabethae strain: an evaluation of bacterial host switching potential.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bartonella elizabethae has been reported as a causative agent of human illnesses and strains of this bacterium are commonly isolated from commensal small mammals in Asia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Since the zoonotic potential of a pathogen is often related to its host switching ability, we explored the capacity of a B. elizabethae strain to host switch by subcutaneously inoculating groups of Swiss Webster, BALB/c, and C57BL/6 mice with the bacteria at a range of doses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A low number of mice in each of the three groups showed susceptibility to infection at high doses (10(5) and 10(6) bacteria), and developed bacteremias of 6-8 weeks duration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The capacity of this B. elizabethae strain to switch hosts can have important public health consequences for humans in areas of Asia where many small mammal populations have high bartonellae infection prevalences and live as commensals with humans.
authors.affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Leah
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Colton
authors.forename: Hidenori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kabeya
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kosoy