SEROLOGICAL STUDIES OF THE ANTIGENIC SIMILARITY BETWEEN TYPHUS GROUP RICKETTSIAE AND WEIL-FELIX TEST ANTIGENS

The sera from two patients with murine typhus reacted with whole cells of Rickettsia prowazekii, R. typhi, and Proteus vulgaris OX19, and wi th lipopolysaccharides (LPS) from the spotted fever group rickettsia s train TT-118 and P. vulgaris OX19 in the enzyme-linked immunosorbent a ssay. Sera from these patients reacted with ladder-like bands of LPS f rom R. prowazekii and R. typhi in the inmunoblot, whereas the reactivi ty of these sera with LPS from P. vulgaris OX19 differed from each oth er. These results indicate that LPS from the typhus group rickettsiae and P. vulgaris OX19 contain similar epitopes.