Newly Isolated Animal Pathogen Is Cytotoxic to Human Epithelial Cells.

is a newly identified animal pathogen of forest animals such as roe deer and wild boars. The species is closely related to the emerging human pathogen and the widely distributed animal pathogen . In this study, strain W25 was characterized with respect to its interaction with human cell lines. Microscopy, measurement of transepithelial electric resistance and cytotoxicity assays revealed detrimental effects of to different human epithelial cell lines and to an invertebrate animal model, larvae, comparable to diphtheria toxin-secreting Furthermore, the results obtained may indicate a considerable zoonotic potential of this newly identified species.