Abstract
Piezoelectric biosensor was used for diagnosis of infection by Francisellatularensis subsp. holarctica in European brown hares. Two kinds of experiments wereperformed in this study. First, sera from experimentally infected European brown hares(Lepus europaeus) were assayed by piezoelectric biosensor and the seventh day postinfection was found as the first one when statistically significant diagnosis of tularemia waspossible; all other sera collected from hares later than on day 7 following the infection werefound tularemia positive. Typing to classify the field strain of F. tularensis used for theexperimental infection was confirmed by proteome study. Second, sera from 35 Europeanbrown hare specimens sampled at hunting grounds and tested as tularemia positive by slowagglutination allowed diagnosis of tularemia by the piezoelectric biosensor. All these sera ofnaturally infected hares were found as tularemia positive, too. Efficacy of the piezoelectricbiosensor for the serological diagnosis of tularemia is discussed.
Highlights
Tularemia is caused by the Gram-negative, facultative intracellular, non-motile and non-spore forming coccobacillus, Francisella tularensis
In the first time of this study, we tested the taxonomy of the F. tularensis isolate used
Collection of Microorganism) suspended in the same manner as F. tularensis served as a negative control
Summary
Tularemia is caused by the Gram-negative, facultative intracellular, non-motile and non-spore forming coccobacillus, Francisella tularensis. The subspecies tularensis (formerly biotype A; in some sources presented as nearctica) occurs only in North America, one isolate from continental Europe was referred to as subsp. The subspecies holarctica (formerly biotype B or subspecies palaeartica) is the second fully virulent F. tularensis representative; case-fatality rate is lower than in patients infected by the subsp. Holarctica in nature was, e.g., studied in rodent populations in China and nearly 5% of rodents were tested as tularemia positive [14]. Piezoelectric biosensors have widely been used and their performance for studies of affine interactions was extensively referred [21]. Sera were obtained from European brown hares representing the natural reservoir of tularemia and the most important source of infection of humans. Results were compared with those ones obtained using the widely available slow agglutination test
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