IN VIVO GROWTH CURVES OF BACILLUS ANTHRACIS
Abstract
Previous investigators have noted that the number of bacteria in the blood of animals infected with fatal anthrax is dependent upon the host species and its degree of immunity or resistance. Quantitative measurements of the concentration and distribution of organisms in various tissues and organs of immunized and nonimmunized guinea pigs and rats infected with Bacillus anthracis have been made. These studies have shown that death does not necessarily occur at the peak bacterial concentration in the body. In either immune or naturally resistant hosts the concentration of organisms in all tissues of the body is lowered. In immunized hosts, bacilli tend to remain localized in the muscular tissues until shortly before death, when a terminal septicemia occurs. There is an apparent inverse time bacterial concentration relationship present, because the animals with the lowest concentration of organisms in the body live the longest. During the pre-septicemic phase of the disease, a relatively high concentration of organisms per gram of tissue can be found in the liver as compared to the other organs. Standard biopsy techniques, rather than establishing the presence of the bacilli in the blood, may possibly be used to detect anthrax in its early stages.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1964
- Accession Number
- AD0448303
Entities
People
- B. U. Ross
- F. Klein
- J. S. Walker
- R. E. Lincoln
- W. I. Jones Jr.
Organizations
- United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories