Experimental Shigella infections. V. Studies in germ-free guinea pigs

Abstract

Formal, Samuel B., (Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, D. C.), Gustave Dammin, Helmuth Sprinz, Donald Kundel, Herman Schneider, Richard E. Horowitz, and Martin Forbes. Experimental shigella infections. V. Studies in germ-free guinea pigs. J. Bacteriol. 82:284-287. 1961.-Germ-free guinea pigs succumb after oral infection with Shigella flexneri serotype 2a; they survive a similar challenge with either a strain of Escherichia coli or a culture of lactobacillus. Animals monocontaminated with E. coli survive, whereas those monocontaminated with lactobacilli succumb to subsequent challenge with dysentery bacilli. Prior subcutaneous inoculation of heat-killed S. flexneri 2a does not render germ-free guinea pigs resistant to the fatal infection with viable dysentery bacilli.