A Comparative Study of the Development of Clinical Forms of Experimental Plague after Aerogenic or Subcutaneous Challenge with Virulent Y. pestis Strains and their Isogenic Variants Containing Different Plasmid Combinations

Abstract

Reviewed in the work are the results of comparative studies of experimental plague infection development in test animals after their aerogenic or subcutaneous challenge with virulent Y. pestis strains (pFra⁺, pCad⁺, pPst⁺, pgm⁺) and their isogenic variants, lacking pFra and/or pPst. Any virulent strain and its isogenic variants were shown to produce both pulmonary and bubonic-septicemic forms of plague depending on the infection transmission route and the dose of the pathogen. The test animals infected via aerogenic and subcutaneous routes with isogenic Y. pestis deprived of their pPst or pPst/pFra plasmids and grown in Hottinger agar at 28 C developed a lingering infection.