Immunological studies on venereal spirochetosis of rabbits (rabbit syphilis).

White rabbits in a family, which were clinically diagnosed as moderately or severely diseased with spirochetosis, were bacteriologically and immunologically examined. The specimens from the diseased rabbits, including affected prepuces, scrotum, or skins with an occasional presence of the spirochetes, did not, however, result in growth in six conventional culture media. Serological tests, including quantitative complement fixation test, rapid plasma reagin card test, Treponema pallidum hemagglutination test, and microscopic agglutination test for leptospires using sera from diseased rabbits showed no differences when compared with those of pooled normal rabbit sera. Immunoblot analysis of the polypeptides from three human oral treponemes and three non-oral spirochetes demonstrated that antibodies against several treponemal polypeptides were detected.