Pathogenicity of Yersinia kristensenii for mice

Abstract

Forty-seven strains of Yersinia kristensenii from widely differing sources, representing all known O serogroups of this species, were investigated for virulence with a variety of animal and in vitro assays. Twenty-four (51% ) of the isolates were lethal for mice pretreated with iron dextran. Mouse-lethal strains occurred predominantly within O serogroups O: 11, O: 12,25, and O: 16. Virulent Y. kristensenii strains generally did not express the virulence-associated phenotype (Ca2+ dependence and binding of Congo red and crystal violet) which characterizes virulent strains of Y. enterocolitica, nor did they carry the Yersinia virulence plasmid. Although all strains hybridized with a DNA probe ..