Burgdorfer W, Aeschlimann A, Peter O, Hayes S F, Philip R N
Acta Trop. 1979 Dec;36(4):357-67.
A tick/rickettsial survey in various parts of Switzerland revealed the presence of a new, hitherto undescribed spotted fever group rickettsia ("Swiss agent") in up to 11.7% of I. ricinus collected off vegetation. Infection in ticks was found to be generalized with rickettsiae developing intracellularly and occasionally also intranuclearly. As a result of massive growth in ovarial tissues, including the germinative cells, the rate of transovarial and filial infection was 100%. The "Swiss agent" appears to be nonpathogenic for guinea pigs, domestic rabbits, and Swiss mice, but in male meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) it produces a microscopically detectable infection in the tunica vaginalis. The rickettsia grows well in tissue culture systems including chick embryo fibroblast, Vero, and vole tissue cells, when inoculated via yolk sac into 5-day-old hens' eggs, it kills 100% of the embryos after 5 to 7 days. Antigenic relatedness of the "Swiss agent" to rickettsiae of the spotted fever group was indicated by indirect and direct fluorescent antibody staining. Preliminary serologic typing by microimmunofluorescence and by microagglutination indicated that the "Swiss agent" differs from all prototype strains of spotted fever group rickettsiae studied so far.
在瑞士各地开展的一项蜱/立克次氏体调查显示，在从植被上采集的蓖麻硬蜱中，高达11.7%携有一种新的、迄今未被描述的斑点热群立克次氏体（“瑞士病原体”）。研究发现，蜱的感染呈全身性，立克次氏体在细胞内生长，偶尔也在细胞核内生长。由于包括生殖细胞在内的卵巢组织大量生长，经卵传递和子代感染率为100%。“瑞士病原体”似乎对豚鼠、家兔和瑞士小鼠无致病性，但在雄性草甸田鼠（Microtus pennsylvanicus）中，它会在睾丸鞘膜中产生显微镜下可检测到的感染。这种立克次氏体在包括鸡胚成纤维细胞、Vero细胞和田鼠组织细胞在内的组织培养系统中生长良好，通过卵黄囊接种到5日龄鸡胚中后，5至7天内可导致100%的胚胎死亡。间接和直接荧光抗体染色表明“瑞士病原体”与斑点热群立克次氏体存在抗原相关性。通过微量免疫荧光和微量凝集进行的初步血清学分型表明，“瑞士病原体”与迄今为止研究的所有斑点热群立克次氏体原型菌株不同。
