Coxiella burnetii isolates cause genogroup-specific virulence in mouse and guinea pig models of acute Q fever.

ABSTRACT: Q fever is a zoonotic disease of worldwide significance caused by the obligate intracellular bacterium Coxiella burnetii. Humans with Q fever may experience an acute flu-like illness and pneumonia and/or chronic hepatitis or endocarditis. Various markers demonstrate significant phylogenetic separation between and clustering among isolates from acute and chronic human disease. The clinical and pathological responses to infection with phase I C. burnetii isolates from the following four genomic groups were evaluated in immunocompetent and immunocompromised mice and in guinea pig infection models: group I (Nine Mile, African, and Ohio), group IV (Priscilla and P), group V (G and S), and group VI (Dugway). Isolates from all of the groups produced disease in the SCID mouse model, and genogroup-

SUBMITTER: Russell-Lodrigue KE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2786457 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature