Treponemicidal antibody measured by the "washed-killing" assay correlates with immunity in experimental rabbit syphilis
Article Abstract:
A new type of assay may help to elucidate how the body's immune response to syphilis develops. Syphilis is caused by an organism known as Treponema pallidum (T. pallidum). Three groups of rabbits were infected with syphilis and subsequently cured with penicillin at 9 days, 30 days, and 6 months after infection in order to create animals with varying degrees of immunity. The rabbits were reinfected and their immune system response was evaluated. Blood serum from the rabbits was used in a "washed-killing" test. The "washed killing" assay measures the activity of an antibody to certain surface proteins found in small amounts on T. pallidum's cell membrane. The degree of effect on T. pallidum correlated with the degree of immunity to infection in the rabbits. This suggests that this antibody plays a role in host-immune response to T. pallidum.
Publication Name: Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0148-5717
Year: 1995
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Iron and virulence of Haemophilus ducreyi in a primate model
Article Abstract:
Iron appears to affect the amount of Haemophilus (H.) ducreyi bacteria required to produce a reaction. Monkeys were injected with various forms of H. ducreyi either after pre-treatment with iron or accompanied by iron in the bacterial injections. Ten times fewer bacteria were needed to produce a reaction when iron was added using either method. All H. ducreyi forms produced lesions in the monkeys pre-treated with iron. These bacterial forms frequently seen in humans have not successfully produced lesions in rabbits during previous studies.
Publication Name: Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0148-5717
Year: 1997
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Cumulative Experience with Haemophilus ducreyi 35000 in the Human Model of Experimental Infection
Article Abstract:
Haemophilus ducreyi is very infectious in humans. Researchers injected 65 healthy volunteers with various amounts of the bacterium ranging from 1 colony-forming unit (CFU) to 100 CFU. Strain 35000 was used. The probability of skin lesions forming increased as the number of CFUs increased. Injecting just one CFU caused skin lesions 50% of the time. On hundred CFU caused skin lesions 90% of the time.
Publication Name: Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0148-5717
Year: 2000
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