Brucella abortus in wildlife on selected cattle farms in Alabama

Two studies of brucellosis in wildlife on farms where the brucellosis infection prevalence in cattle was known are reported. On a research farm, 233 feral animals of 22 mammalian species and 12 of seven avian species were trapped during three time periods. Sixty were studied before cattle were introduced, 128 were studied while 501 cattle infected with Brucella abortus were calving and aborting, and 60 specimens were collected 20 mo after the last infected cow calved. Selected tissues from 229 wild animals were cultured and sera from 138 were examined using the brucellosis card, standard tube agglutination (STA), 2-mercaptoethanol (2-ME) and rivanol (RIV) tests. Brucella abortus was not recovered from any animals sampled prior to cattle being introduced and all sera collected were negative. Brucella abortus was isolated from four opossums (Didelphis virginiana) and one raccoon (Procyon lotor) in the group of animals trapped during the calving period. Three serums were tested and had STA titers ranging from 1:100 to 1:200. Of 68 sera only one had antibodies. Brucella were not isolated from 59 animals trapped after the calving period and only one of 42 serums had antibodies. On regional cattle farms, 243 wild animals were trapped. Brucellae were not isolated from 223 animals which were cultured. No serums had significant titers. The data from this study suggest opossums and raccoons can be infected from cattle but are unlikely to maintain the infection.

Partial purification of extracellular toxic material of fish Vibrio

Hemolytic activity of 3 pathogenic strains, of fish Vibrio commonly associated with vibriosis (V anguillarum NCMB6 and NCMB571 strains, and Vibrio sp N7802 strain) was examined, using chicken and mammalian erythrocytes. Vibrio strains NCMB6 and NCMB571 and their culture filtrates had hemolytic activity against 8 kinds of erythrocytes tested, whereas Vibrio strain N7802 produced only a little amount of hemolysin. Strain NCMB571 culture filtrate and its material partially purified by column chromatography were lethal in mice. From 2 peaks of protein, hemolysin was recovered from the 1st peak, which coincided with toxicity in mice. Heat-inactivation of culture filtrate indicated that hemolytic materials may be thermolabile proteins, but that toxic material may be comparatively thermostable.

Arbovirus studies in the Guajira region of Venezuela: activities of eastern equine encephalitis and Venezuelan equine encephalitis viruses during an interepizootic period

Repeated outbreaks of Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) in humans and equines in the Guajira region of Venezuela suggested a sylvatic focus of an epizootic subtype of VEE virus. A surveillance system was established, and virus isolations were attempted from 67,760 mosquitoes as well as sentinel hamsters. Sixteen isolates of eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) and a strain of Itaqui virus were recovered from mosquitoes, and 60 isolates of EEE, two of VEE, and two of Itaqui viruses were recovered from tissues of sentinel hamsters. The VEE virus isolates were shown to be closely related antigenically to prototype VEE ID and the EEE virus isolates were shown to be more closely related to the South American than the North American variety of EEE virus. Evidence for the presence of VEE and EEE viruses in small wild vertebrates was obtained from serologic testing. This study showed, for the first time, the enzootic presence of both VEE ID and EEE viruses during a nonepizoodemic period in the Guajira region.

Tick-borne rickettsioses in Pune district, Maharashtra, India

An extensive study on tick-borne rickettsioses in the Pune district of Maharashtra revealed that Indian tick typhus exists as a zoonosis, which only occasionally causes disease in man. By sero-conversion in guinea pigs, presumptive isolates of Rickettsia conori and Coxiella burnetii were recovered from 4 of the 11 species of ticks examined. Boophilus microplus and Rhipicephalus haemaphysalis were found to be harbouring R. conori whereas C. burnetii was isolated from Haemaphysalis intermedia and Hyalomma hussaini in addition to the above mentioned 2 tick species. Complement fixation tests carried out on sera from various species of rodents and gerbils revealed the presence of antibodies against the R. conori antigen in the sera of Rattus blanfordi, R.r. rufescens and Suncus murinus. In the case of large mammals, similar antibodies were detected in the sera from dog, cow, horse and sheep. C. burnetii infection was found to exist in both the sylvan and domestic cycle, as evidenced from the involvement of ticks, large and small mammals and man in its natural history.

[Immunogenic properties of glucagon: the interaction of glucagon from the hen with specific antisera to glucagon from mammals]

In conventional radioimmunological systems for glucagon assay, it was shown that hen's glucagon is capable of productive interaction with specific antisera to mammalian molecule which account for its immunogenic properties.

Anti-immunoglobulin induced histamine release from naturally abundant basophils in the snapping turtle, Chelydra serpentina

The dose response, temperature sensitivity, time course and calcium dependency of histamine release from snapping turtle basophils treated with rabbit anti-turtle immunoglobulin (RATIg) sera was explored. This investigation indicated that the level of histamine release induced by RATIg was dependent upon the concentration of RATIg with concentrations of 350 mcg/ml inducing optimal release. In addition, release was temperature dependent with release increasing over a temperature range of 10 degrees C to maximal at 27 degrees C. Release was also dependent on the length of exposure to RATIg. Release increased steadily over a time period of 0 to 30 minutes with the higher concentrations of RATIg inducing the most rapid release. Basophil-histamine release was also found to be calcium dependent. This study indicates that the snapping turtle basophil possesses similar characteristics to that of its mammalian counterparts. It is proposed that the very wide temperature range over which turtle basophils release histamine is an important feature in he immune resistance of this ectothermic animal.

Nonspecific cytotoxic cells in fish (Ictalurus punctatus). III. Biophysical and biochemical properties affecting cytolysis

Nonspecific cytotoxic cells (NCC) from the catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) may comprise a population of cells that are responsible for cellular immunity in the fish. NCC kill a wide variety of transformed target cells, and previous studies have indicated that NCC share properties with mammalian natural killer cells. In the present study, many biophysical and biochemical properties of NCC were defined. NCC were nylon wool nonadherent and adherent. NCC activity was also enriched in plastic nonadherent cells. NCC were nonphagocytic (for carbonyl iron), and they did not bind to Sephadex G-10. Characterization of NCC by density gradient centrifugation indicated that they comprise a relatively homogenous population of cytolytic cells that band at 45.5% Percoll. Moderate to high doses (500-2500 R) of X-irradiation produced a stimulatory effect on NCC lysis of labeled target cells. Additional studies indicated that a soluble suppressor protein in catfish serum (CFS) regulated NCC activity. This S. aureus protein A binding component isolated from CFS suppressed NCC activity. Analysis by SDS-PAGE indicated that the soluble regulatory protein had properties similar to immunoglobulin. These data indicate that NCC share some biophysical properties with mammalian natural killer cells. In addition, NCC appear to be under partial cell regulation by a radiation sensitive suppressor cell and also by a soluble regulator serum immunoglobulin component.

Connective tissue activation XXVI: IgG stimulation of glycosaminoglycan synthesis in human synovial cultures

Substances known to enhance synthesis of glycosaminoglycans (GAG) in human synovial fibroblast cultures include "Connective Tissue Activating Peptides" (CTAP) isolated from certain organs, leukocytes and platelets as well as cyclic AMP and specific prostaglandins. This report shows that immunoglobulin G (IgG) isolated from 7 mammalian sources, including human, stimulated GAG production by human synovial cultures 3 to 18 fold. IgG generally did not stimulate DNA synthesis by human synovial fibroblasts as determined by [3H]-thymidine uptake. On a molar basis, IgG had a specific activity similar to that of CTAP-Ib(spleen) and CTAP-III (platelets). Normal human plasma levels of IgG may be sufficient to provide additional stimulus for activation of synovial connective tissue during the inflammatory response.

A serological survey of antibodies against Francisella tularensis in some Swedish mammals

Tularemia occurs in Sweden as an epizootic among the mountain hare. Little is known about the occurrence of the disease in other animals in this country. For this reason serum samples from 28 cattle, 83 moose, 110 beavers and 97 mountain hares were investigated for the presence of antibodies against Francisella tularensis. The antibody levels against F. tularensis found in moose and cattle were generally low and also in a low incidence. This indicates that these species are not susceptible to tularemia and not involved in the epizootiology of this disease. Beaver titres were found to vary from 1:20 to 1:1 000. Twenty-one % of the investigated sera showed titres higher than 1:100. This indicates that infections are common in the species and that the Scandinavian beaver plays an important role in the epizootiology of tularemia. It could well act as a reservoir for the disease. Ninety-six of the 97 tested sera from the mountain hare were negative. In one serum was a titer of 1:20 seen. This low titer was regarded as non-specific. The absence of titers against F. tularensis in this species could be explained by the high susceptibility to this disease. This indicates that the mountain hare is not a reservoir for tularemia in Sweden. It is one of the most susceptible and the dominating species involved in tularemia epizootics, but it is not the normal reservoir for F. tularensis.

Monoclonal antibodies as a tool for phylogenetic studies of major histocompatibility antigens and beta 2-microglobulin

The cross-reactivity of several monoclonal antibodies recognizing monomorphic determinants of human HLA-A, B, C, and DR antigens and human beta 2-microglobulin (beta 2m) has been studied on peripheral blood leukocytes in 24 different species. An monoclonal HLA-A-, B-, and C-specific antibody and four monoclonal HLA-DR-specific antibodies cross-reacted with cells from all the primate species tested. Furthermore, antibodies HLA-DR-specific were positive with peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) from cows, goats, sheep, horses, and dogs. Two monoclonal beta 2m-specific antibodies, which were positive with PBL from certain primates, also reacted with cells from cows, goats, sheep, horses, and dogs. Two other beta 2-m-specific antibodies reacted only with PBL from chimpanzees. No reaction could be detected with all our reagents in other classes tested (birds, reptiles, amphibians, and Teleostei).

Immunological studies with human aortic elastin

Antibodies to human fetal aortic elastin were isolated from sheep immunized with alpha-elastin peptides. In preliminary tests of specificity using passive hemagglutination, partial cross-reactivity was demonstrated with alpha-elastin from other species. However, in a double antibody radio-immunoassay alpha-elastin peptides from other mammalian species failed to compete with 125I-labelled human alpha elastin. These results suggest the existence of at least two different antigenic sites on the elastin molecule. One, a high affinity site, demonstrates species specificity at low antigen/antibody concentrations. The other, a low affinity site, is common to mammalian elastins and is demonstrated at high antibody/antigen concentrations. In the radioimmunoassay the antibodies showed considerably less avidity for adult human alpha-elastin than for the fetal antigen. This implies that the species specific site is age-dependent and probably involves the cross-linking region of the elastin molecule. Using the sheep antiserum immunohistochemical staining of elastic tissue has been developed. This should prove to be a useful technique for studying polymeric elastin in intact tissue by light microscopy and at the ultrastructural level.

Serologic survey for selected microbial agents in mammals from Alberta, 1976

Blood samples were taken from humans and several species of free-ranging wild mammals from five different geographic areas of Alberta, Canada. Sera were tested for antibody to eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus, western equine encephalitis (WEE) virus, St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) virus, Powassan (POW) virus, the snowshoe hare (SSH) strain of the California group (CAL) of viruses, Northway (NOR) virus, Klamath (KLA) virus, infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) virus, and two bacteria, Brucella abortus and Francisella tularensis. CAL antibody was found in 63% of 11 snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus), 33% of 167 black bears (Ursus americanus), and 19% of 55 humans (Homo sapiens). NOR antibody was found in 0.4% of 258 hares, 11% of 9 bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis), 20% of 44 moose (Alces alces), 4% of 56 bears, 14% of 22 woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus), and 2% of 50 humans. IBR antibody was detected in 14% of 14 moose. B. abortus antibody was found in 1% of 283 bears. F. tularensis antibody was detected in 2% of 52 humans. These findings represent extension of: (1) the natural host range of IBR, CAL, and NOR; (2) the geographical distribution of NOR infection in North America; and (3) the geographical distribution of CAL infection within Alberta.