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. 2001 Mar;69(3):1876-9.
doi: 10.1128/IAI.69.3.1876-1879.2001.

Experimental model of human body louse infection using green fluorescent protein-expressing Bartonella quintana

P E Fournier  1 , M F Minnick, H Lepidi, E Salvo, D Raoult
Affiliations

Experimental model of human body louse infection using green fluorescent protein-expressing Bartonella quintana

P E Fournier et al. Infect Immun. 2001 Mar.

Abstract

A laboratory colony of human body lice was experimentally infected by feeding on rabbits made artificially bacteremic with a green fluorescent protein-expressing Bartonella quintana. B. quintana was detected in the gut and feces until death but not in the eggs. The life span of the lice was not modified. The rabbit model should provide valuable clues to the role of lice in the transmission of B. quintana.

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Figures

FIG. 1
FIG. 1
Experimental model of body louse infection by GFP-expressing B. quintana. (a) Pediculus humanus humanus feeding on a rabbit; (b) fluorescent colony isolated on selective agar from an infected louse 10 days after the initial infection; (c) autofluorescence of body lice; (d) immunohistological detection of B. quintana. Note the numerous erythrocytes and the clusters of bartonellae in the intestine lumen (red clumps) and against the intestine wall (blue). Streptavidin-biotin-peroxidase method, polyclonal rabbit anti-B. quintana used at a dilution of 1:400, hemalun counterstain. Magnification, ×660.
FIG. 2
FIG. 2
Comparison of the survival rate over time of 200 lice infected with B. quintana and 200 control lice. Day 0, day of infection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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