IMMUNOLOGICAL STUDIES ON VENEREAL SPIROCHETOSIS OF RABBITS (RABBIT SYPHILIS)

White rabbits in a family, which were clinically diagnosed as moderate ly or severely diseased with spirochetosis, were bacteriologically and immunologically examined. The specimens from the diseased rabbits, in cluding affected prepuces, scrotum, or skins with an occasional presen ce of the spirochetes, did not, however, result in growth in six conve ntional culture media. Serological tests, including quantitative compl ement fixation test, rapid plasma reagin card test, Treponema pallidum hemagglutination test, and microscopic agglutination test for leptosp ires using sera from diseased rabbits showed no differences when compa red with those of pooled normal rabbit sera. Immunoblot analysis of th e polypeptides from three human oral treponemes and three non-oral spi rochetes demonstrated that antibodies against several treponemal polyp eptides were detected.