Abstract
A PUZZLING feature of studies on the basis of pathogenicity of Pasteurella pestis is the relationship of the behaviour of the so-called toxin1–4 in guinea pigs to infection in the same host. This toxin is lethal for mice but not for guinea pigs4,5, although the two hosts are equally susceptible to plague1,6. This anomaly led us to consider whether, in plague, guinea pigs are killed by a toxin different from that killing mice, or whether the ‘toxin’ as previously isolated is a degraded form of a native toxin that kills both species. The results described below support the latter view and give a reasonable explanation for the death of guinea pigs from plague.
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KEPPIE, J., SMITH, H. & COCKING, E. Lethality for Guinea Pigs of Ultrasonic Extracts of Pasteurella pestis: its Relationship to Death of Guinea Pigs from Plague. Nature 180, 1136 (1957). https://doi.org/10.1038/1801136a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1801136a0
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