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Infection and Immunity, August 2003, p. 4717-4723, Vol. 71, No. 8
0019-9567/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.71.8.4717-4723.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

SCID Mouse Model for Lethal Q Fever

Department of Veterinary Microbiology,¹ Department of Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu, Gifu 501-1193, Japan²

Received 29 October 2002/ Returned for modification 7 January 2003/ Accepted 9 April 2003

Q fever, a worldwide zoonosis caused by Coxiella burnetii, has many manifestations in humans. Endocarditis is the most serious complication of Q fever. Animal models are limited to acute pulmonary or hepatic disease and reproductive disorders. An appropriate experimental animal model for Q fever endocarditis does not yet exist. In this study, severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice infected with C. burnetii showed persistent clinical symptoms and died, whereas immunocompetent mice similarly infected became asymptomatic and survived. The SCID mice examined in this study had severe chronic lesions in their primary organs: the heart, lung, spleen, liver, and kidney. The heart lesions of the SCID mice were similar to those in humans with chronic Q fever endocarditis: they had focal calcification and expanded macrophages containing C. burnetii. The 50% lethal dose of C. burnetii in SCID mice was at least 10⁸ times less than that in immunocompetent mice. The SCID mouse is highly susceptible to C. burnetii, and the immunodeficiency of the host enhances the severity of Q fever. This animal model could provide a new tool for the study of chronic Q fever and Q fever in immunodeficient hosts.

Editor: V. J. DiRita

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