Skip to main content
PMC home page
Infection and Immunity logoLink to Infection and Immunity
. 1986 Sep;53(3):553–559. doi: 10.1128/iai.53.3.553-559.1986

Comparison of guinea pig and protozoan models for determining virulence of Legionella species.

B S Fields, J M Barbaree, E B Shotts Jr, J C Feeley, W E Morrill, G N Sanden, M J Dykstra
PMCID: PMC260826  PMID: 3744550

Abstract

Legionella pneumophila organisms are able to infect and multiply within the ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena pyriformis. This ability may be associated with virulence, because an attenuated strain of L. pneumophila fails to multiply within this protozoan, whereas a virulent strain increases 10,000-fold in number when coincubated with T. pyriformis. Seventeen strains (11 species) of legionellae were evaluated for virulence by intraperitoneal injection of guinea pigs and inoculation of protozoan cultures. Analysis of the data indicates that there are four categories of legionellae with respect to virulence as follows: organisms that infect and kill guinea pigs and multiply in T. pyriformis; organisms that infect but do not kill guinea pigs and multiply in T. pyriformis; organisms that do not infect guinea pigs but are lethal at high concentrations and multiply in T. pyriformis; and organisms that neither infect nor kill guinea pigs and fail to multiply in T. pyriformis. Evidence suggests that these distinctions are based on two virulence factors: intracellular multiplication in a host and toxic activity.

Full text

PDF
553

Images in this article

556Image
on p.556

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. ALLEN E. G., BOVARNICK M. R., SNYDER J. C. The effect of irradiation with ultraviolet light on various properties of typhus rickettsiae. J Bacteriol. 1954 Jun;67(6):718–723. doi: 10.1128/jb.67.6.718-723.1954. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Anand C. M., Skinner A. R., Malic A., Kurtz J. B. Interaction of L. pneumophilia and a free living amoeba (Acanthamoeba palestinensis). J Hyg (Lond) 1983 Oct;91(2):167–178. doi: 10.1017/s0022172400060174. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Baine W. B., Rasheed J. K., Maca H. W., Kaufmann A. F. Hemolytic activity of plasma and urine from rabbits experimentally infected with Legionella pneumophila. Rev Infect Dis. 1979 Nov-Dec;1(6):912–917. doi: 10.1093/clinids/1.6.912. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Barbaree J. M., Fields B. S., Feeley J. C., Gorman G. W., Martin W. T. Isolation of protozoa from water associated with a legionellosis outbreak and demonstration of intracellular multiplication of Legionella pneumophila. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1986 Feb;51(2):422–424. doi: 10.1128/aem.51.2.422-424.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bollin G. E., Plouffe J. F., Para M. F., Prior R. B. Difference in virulence of environmental isolates of Legionella pneumophila. J Clin Microbiol. 1985 May;21(5):674–677. doi: 10.1128/jcm.21.5.674-677.1985. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Fields B. S., Shotts E. B., Jr, Feeley J. C., Gorman G. W., Martin W. T. Proliferation of Legionella pneumophila as an intracellular parasite of the ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena pyriformis. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1984 Mar;47(3):467–471. doi: 10.1128/aem.47.3.467-471.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Friedman R. L., Iglewski B. H., Miller R. D. Identification of a cytotoxin produced by Legionella pneumophila. Infect Immun. 1980 Jul;29(1):271–274. doi: 10.1128/iai.29.1.271-274.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hedlund K. W. Legionella toxin. Pharmacol Ther. 1981;15(1):123–130. doi: 10.1016/0163-7258(81)90021-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Herwaldt L. A., Gorman G. W., McGrath T., Toma S., Brake B., Hightower A. W., Jones J., Reingold A. L., Boxer P. A., Tang P. W. A new Legionella species, Legionella feeleii species nova, causes Pontiac fever in an automobile plant. Ann Intern Med. 1984 Mar;100(3):333–338. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-100-3-333. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Horwitz M. A. Formation of a novel phagosome by the Legionnaires' disease bacterium (Legionella pneumophila) in human monocytes. J Exp Med. 1983 Oct 1;158(4):1319–1331. doi: 10.1084/jem.158.4.1319. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. McDade J. E., Shepard C. C., Fraser D. W., Tsai T. R., Redus M. A., Dowdle W. R. Legionnaires' disease: isolation of a bacterium and demonstration of its role in other respiratory disease. N Engl J Med. 1977 Dec 1;297(22):1197–1203. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197712012972202. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. McDade J. E., Shepard C. C. Virulent to avirulent conversion of Legionnaires' disease bacterium (Legionella pneumophila)--its effect on isolation techniques. J Infect Dis. 1979 Jun;139(6):707–711. doi: 10.1093/infdis/139.6.707. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Müller H. E. Proteolytic action of Legionella pneumophila on human serum proteins. Infect Immun. 1980 Jan;27(1):51–53. doi: 10.1128/iai.27.1.51-53.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Newsome A. L., Baker R. L., Miller R. D., Arnold R. R. Interactions between Naegleria fowleri and Legionella pneumophila. Infect Immun. 1985 Nov;50(2):449–452. doi: 10.1128/iai.50.2.449-452.1985. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Rowbotham T. J. Preliminary report on the pathogenicity of Legionella pneumophila for freshwater and soil amoebae. J Clin Pathol. 1980 Dec;33(12):1179–1183. doi: 10.1136/jcp.33.12.1179. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Spurr A. R. A low-viscosity epoxy resin embedding medium for electron microscopy. J Ultrastruct Res. 1969 Jan;26(1):31–43. doi: 10.1016/s0022-5320(69)90033-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Thacker W. L., Wilkinson H. W., Plikaytis B. B., Steigerwalt A. G., Mayberry W. R., Moss C. W., Brenner D. J. Second serogroup of Legionella feeleii strains isolated from humans. J Clin Microbiol. 1985 Jul;22(1):1–4. doi: 10.1128/jcm.22.1.1-4.1985. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Thorpe T. C., Miller R. D. Extracellular enzymes of Legionella pneumophila. Infect Immun. 1981 Aug;33(2):632–635. doi: 10.1128/iai.33.2.632-635.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Tyndall R. L., Domingue E. L. Cocultivation of Legionella pneumophila and free-living amoebae. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1982 Oct;44(4):954–959. doi: 10.1128/aem.44.4.954-959.1982. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Winn W. C., Jr, Chandler F. W. Role of virulence factors in Legionella infections. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1982 Mar;106(3):105–107. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Infection and Immunity are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES