Infectious Diseases in Wild Animals in Utah VI. Experimental Infection of Birds with Rickettsia rickettsii

Lundgren, D. L. (University of Utah, Salt Lake City), B. D. Thorpe, and C. D. Haskell. Infectious diseases in wild animals in Utah. VI. Experimental infection of birds with Rickettsia rickettsii . J. Bacteriol. 91: 963–966. 1966.—Chickens, pigeons, pheasants, sparrow hawks, red-tailed hawks, ravens, magpies, and a marsh hawk were inoculated with Rickettsia rickettsii , the etiological agent of Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The development and persistence of complement-fixing (CF) antibodies and rickettsemias were tested for in these birds. Rickettsiae were recovered from the blood of a number of birds up to the 16th day after inoculation, whereas only the pigeon was found to develop high CF antibody titers. It was concluded that certain species of birds have the potential of contributing to the dissemination of R. rickettsii in nature, and that the CF test is generally unsuitable for serological diagnosis of this organism in birds.