The surface protease PgtE of Salmonella enterica affects complement activity by proteolytically cleaving C3b, C4b and C5.

Complement activity in mammalian serum is fundamentally based on three homologous components C3b, C4b and C5. During systemic infection, the gastrointestinal pathogen Salmonella enterica disseminates within host phagocytic cells but also extracellularly. Consequently, systemic Salmonella transiently confronts the complement system.

Association of bovine respiratory disease with clinical status and acute phase proteins in calves.

Eighty-four calves with respiratory disease from 18 herds in different parts of Finland were chosen for a study evaluating the capacity of different respiratory pathogens to cause changes in different acute phase protein concentrations, white blood cell (WBC) count and clinical signs. The selected acute phase proteins were fibrinogen, haptoglobin, serum amyloid-A, lipopolysaccharide binding protein and alpha1-acid glycoprotein. From each calf, a paired blood sample was obtained for serological studies of bovine parainfluenza virus-3, bovine respiratory syncytial virus, bovine coronavirus, bovine adenovirus-3 and bovine adenovirus-7.

Viral and bacterial pathogens in bovine respiratory disease in Finland.

Pathogens causing bovine respiratory tract disease in Finland were investigated. Eighteen cattle herds with bovine respiratory disease were included. Five diseased calves from each farm were chosen for closer examination and tracheobronchial lavage.

Experimental infection of laboratory mice and rabbits with several isolates of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato; comparison of antigens from different genospecies in serological measurement of immune responses.

Infectivity of and immune responses to 28 Finnish Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato isolates was studied in 3-4-week-old outbred NMRI and inbred BALB/c/Hy laboratory mice; rabbits were also inoculated. Twenty-one isolates were found to detectably infect mice. A variation among isolates in degree of infectivity was observed.

Disease patterns in field and bank vole populations during a cyclic decline in central Finland.

Declining field vole (Microtus agrestis) and bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus) populations were sampled (117 field voles and 34 bank voles) in south-central Finland during the winter of 1988-89. The last surviving field voles were caught in April and bank voles in February. A subsample (16) of the April field voles were taken live to the laboratory for immunosuppression.