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Volume 24, Number 2—February 2018
Research

Yersinia pestis Survival and Replication in Potential Ameba Reservoir

David W. MarkmanComments to Author , Michael F. Antolin, Richard A. Bowen, William H. Wheat, Michael Woods, Mercedes Gonzalez-Juarrero, and Mary Jackson
Author affiliations: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA (D.W. Markman, M.F. Antolin, R.A. Bowen, W.H. Wheat, M. Gonzalez-Juarrero, M. Jackson); Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine, Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA (M. Woods)

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Figure 1

Infection pathways for plague. During plague epizootics, transmission occurs through flea vectors within meta-populations of ground-dwelling rodents. It is unknown by what route or mechanism Yersinia pestis is maintained during inter-epizootic periods of plague quiescence. Previous research on fleas has not strongly supported their reservoir potential across interepizootic periods (3). The experiment and analysis of the current study tests the hypothesis that amoeboid species demonstrate reservo

Figure 1. Infection pathways for plague. During plague epizootics, transmission occurs through flea vectors within meta-populations of ground-dwelling rodents. It is unknown by what route or mechanism Yersinia pestis is maintained during interepizootic periods of plague quiescence. Previous research on fleas has not strongly supported their reservoir potential across interepizootic periods (3). The experiment and analysis of this study test the hypothesis that amoeboid species demonstrate reservoir potential for Y. pestis. If Y. pestis is maintained within ameba reservoirs, we suspect that epizootic recrudescence may occur when infected soilborne amebae enter the bloodstream of naive rodent hosts (by entering wounds from antagonistic host-to-host interactions or burrowing activities). Amebae typically lyse when incubated at 37°C and simultaneously release their intracellular cargo, potentially initiating an infection.

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Page created: January 17, 2018
Page updated: January 17, 2018
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