946 



ORDER I. RICKETTSIALES 



Organisms exclusively extracellular in the gut of, and non-pathogenic for, the human- 

 body louse, which acts as the vector of this agent of trench fever. 

 The type species of the subgenus is Rickettsia quintana Schmincke. 



8. Rickettsia quintana Schmincke, 1917. 

 (Schmincke, Miinch. med. Wochnschr., 64, 

 1917, 961; Rickettsia pediculi Munk and da 

 Rocha-Lima, Miinch. med. Wochnschr., 64, 



1917, 1423; Rickettsia wolhynica Jungmann 

 and Kuczynski, Ztschr. f. klin. Med., 85, 



1918, 261; Rickettsia weigh Mosing, Arch. 

 Inst. Past., Tunis, 25, 1936, 380; Burnetia 

 (Rocha-Ldmae) wolhijnicaMeLCchiaveWo, Prim. 

 Reunion Interamer. del Tifo, Mexico, 1947, 

 410; Burnetia (Rocha-Limae) weigli Macchia- 

 vello, loc. cit.; Wolhynia quintanae (sic) 

 Zhdanov and Korenblit, Jour Microbiol., 

 Epidemiol, and Immunobiol. (Russian), 

 No. 9, 1950, 42.) 



quin.ta'na. M.L. adj. quintanus fifth; 

 referring to five-day fever, one of the collo- 

 quial names of the fever caused by this 

 species. 



Coccoid or ellipsoidal organisms, often 

 occurring in pairs. More plump and stain 

 more deeply with Giemsa's stain than does 

 R. prowazekii. 0.2 to 0.4 micron (da Rocha- 

 Lima). In lice, appear as short rods, fre- 

 quently occurring in pairs and often bi- 

 polarly stained. Occur extracellularly in the . 

 region of the epithelial lining of the lumen 

 of the gut of the louse. Non-motile. Stain 

 reddish violet with Giemsa's stain. Gram- 

 negative. 



Cultivation: Has not been cultivated in 

 tissue culture, yolk sacs of chick embryos 

 or any other cell-free medium (report of 

 cultivation of Rickettsia pediculi and R. 

 rochalimae, which are regarded as identical 

 with this species, on cell-free media remains 

 to be confirmed). Grows in body lice in- 

 jected intrarectally or fed on patients, but 

 unlike most other Rickettsia spp., it was not 

 found to grow in living meal-worm larvae 

 (Weyer, Acta Tropica, 11, 1954, 207). 



Serology: Possesses no common antigenic 

 factor with Proteus strains. No practical 

 serological procedure has been developed, 

 though louse guts and louse feces have been 

 reported to provide antigens for agglutina- 

 tion tests. Laboratory diagnosis, therefore, 

 additional to clinical and epidemiological 

 data, is largely dependent for confirmation 



on the demonstration of extracellular 

 rickettsiae in carefully selected louse stocks 

 fed either during the human febrile episode 

 or later. 



Pathogenic for man, causing rash and re- 

 current fever. Blood of cases has been shown 

 to be infectious on transfer to volunteers as 

 long as 4, 5 and even 8 years following clini- 

 cal recovery. Mooser and his colleagues, 

 among others, have repeatedly infected lice 

 fed during such periods of latency in ap- 

 parently healthy persons. Man, therefore, 

 is the obvious reservoir of the infection. 

 Codeleoncini infected the baboon, and 

 Mooser and Weyer found rhesus monkeys 

 susceptible. 



Immunology: Partial immunity is pro- 

 duced after an attack of the disease. The 

 disease is characterized by relapses which 

 may occur as long as 2 to 3 years after the 

 initial attack. 



Distinctive characters : Resists a tempera- 

 ture of 60° C. moist heat for 30 minutes or a 

 dry heat of 80° C. for 20 minutes. Resists 

 desiccation in simlight for 4 months. Has 

 been filtered under certain conditions but 

 not when in plasma or serum. Present in 

 filtrates of infected vaccine sediments and 

 for long periods in the feces of infected lice. 

 Intracutaneous injection of living organisms 

 from lice produces skin lesions in the rabbit 

 which can be inhibited by the use of conva- 

 lescent serum. 



Source: Observed in lice fed on trench- 

 fever patients by Topfer (Miinch. med. 

 Wochnschr., ei, 1916, 1495). 



Habitat: Found in the epithelial lining of 

 the gut of the body louse (Pediculus hu- 

 manus var. humanus) where the rickettsiae 

 occur extracellularly; also found in P. 

 humanus var. capitis. Not transmissible 

 through the ova. The etiological agent of 

 trench fever (Wolhynian fever, shin-bone 

 fever, five-day fever). 



Addendum: Two pathogenic agents of 

 importance in the U. S. S. R. have come to 

 attention since this section was prepared: 



