Guinea Pig and Rat as Carriers of Host-unique and Shared Haemophilus Phenotypes

Abstract

Infections by V- factor dependent Pasteurellaceae (commonly called Haemophilus spp) frequently occur in  colonies of guinea pig and rat. We evaluated possible differences between 185 Haemophilus strains from  guinea pig (n=97) and rat (n=88) by API NH biotyping and by cell wall lipid profiling (FAME-analysis). By  combining results of both methods we found 28 Haemophilus API-FAME types. Seven API-FAME types  were shared and comprised 66% and 76% of the guinea pig and rat Haemophilus strains respectively. The  remaining 21 Haemophilus phenotypes were unique to either guinea pig (12 types) or rat (9 types).