muramidase and Tularemia

Biochemical and cellular characteristics of pleural fluid from two patients with pleuropulmonary tularemia and 39 patients with tuberculous pleurisy were compared. High pleural fluid concentrations of adenosine deaminase, lysozyme, and beta 2-microglobulin occurred in both diseases. As is the case with tuberculous pleural effusions, pleural fluid in tularemia showed an abundance of lymphocytes, predominantly CD4-positive T lymphocytes. The similar pleural fluid findings suggest analogous local pathogenetic mechanisms in tularemia and tuberculosis. In the diagnostic evaluation of a lymphocyte-rich exudative pleural effusion with a high adenosine deaminase concentration, a possible cause to consider is tularemia.

Topics: Aged; Humans; Lung Diseases; Lymphocyte Subsets; Male; Middle Aged; Muramidase; Pleural Effusion; Tuberculosis, Pleural; Tularemia

A temporal study is reported of the febrile responses, tissue bacterial contents, and serum concentration of the lysosomal enzymes, beta-glucuronidase and lysozyme, in nonimmune rats inoculated with virulent or attenuated strains of Francisella tularensis, and in immune rats challenged with either a high or low dose of virulent organisms. The level of serum beta-glucuronidase appears to be an indicator of hepatocyte damage, whereas serum lysozyme correlates with the appearance, frequency, and severity of pyogranulomatous lesions. Survival of nonimmune rats after a challenge with either virulent or attenuated organisms appears to depend on a balance between dose of bacterial inoculum, celerity of irreversible pathologic events, and the ability of the reticuloendothelial and immune systems to collaboratively mount a response to limit or prevent dissemination of the infection. In immune rats, infection of parenchymal hepatic cells does not occur after a low dose (10-4) virulent challenge. Infection of parenchymal hepatic cells, however, does occur in immunized rats when the challenge dose is sufficiently large (10-8) so as to overcome the capacity of the reticuloendothelial to clear opsonized organisms.

Topics: Animals; Fever; Francisella tularensis; Glucuronidase; Liver; Male; Muramidase; Rats; Rats, Inbred F344; Spleen; Tularemia