EXPERIMENTAL SHIGELLA INFECTIONS V

Abstract

Formal, Samuel B., (Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, D. C.), Gustave Dammin, Helmuth Sprinz, Donald Kundel, Herman Schneider, Richard E. Horowitz, and Martin Forbes . Experimental shigella infections. V. Studies in germ-free guinea pigs. J. Bacteriol. 82: 284–287. 1961.—Germ-free guinea pigs succumb after oral infection with Shigella flexneri serotype 2a; they survive a similar challenge with either a strain of Escherichia coli or a culture of lactobacillus. Animals monocontaminated with E. coli survive, whereas those monocontaminated with lactobacilli succumb to subsequent challenge with dysentery bacilli. Prior subcutaneous inoculation of heat-killed S. flexneri 2a does not render germ-free guinea pigs resistant to the fatal infection with viable dysentery bacilli.