Abstract
In the present paper, the author deals with the comparative study of human, ermine and field vole strains of Spirochaeta laverani, which was examined from 3 faces of inoculation experiment, immunological reaction and chemotherapeutic biology. The results obtained are summarized as follows:
1. Three spirochetes under discussion can readily infect such experimental animals, as the mouse, rat and guinea-pig. The virulence of field vole spirochete, however, is slightly inferior to that of human and ermine strains.
2. The splenectomy makes adult rats more susceptible to the less virulent field vole spirochete, while the virulent human and ermine strains infect both the splenectomized and normal rats with equal readiness.
3. The human and ermine strains surpass the field vole spirochete positively in the spirochetolysin-producing power.
4. These 3 strains reveal no difference in the cross-immunization test, carried on with mice.
5. When treated in vitro with such chemotherapeutic agents, silver salvarsan, neotrepol and muthanol, the least virulent field vole strain is most refractory to these chemicals, the virulent ermine ranks next, while the most virulent human spirochete is the most sensible to them.
6. The internal desinfection of infected mice with the above mentioned 4 drugs shows that the infection by field vole spirochete manifests recidivation most frequently and that by the human strain least frequently.
As seen from the above described results, the human, ermine and field vole spirochetes under discussion, all representing the same species, exhibit variations in visulence, antigenic property and chemotherapeutic biology, which might be due very often to the difference in the species of their host. And it is very probably concluded that the more the virulence of spirochete increases, the more its spirochetolysin-producing power and sensitiveness to chemotherapeutic drugs grow.
