FIG 2.

Persistence of B. abortus S2308, Δmfp, and Δomp19 strains in C57BL/6 mice. Mice were intraperitoneally injected with 10⁶ CFU of B. abortus S2308 and the Δmfp::kan or Δomp19::kan strain. Spleens were removed at 1, 3, 6, and 12 weeks after infection, and the CFU were enumerated. The data points are presented as the log₁₀ CFU per spleen. Statistically significant differences in relation to B. abortus wild-type S2308 are indicated as follows: *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.001. This result is representative of two independent experiments.