A murine model for infection with Burkholderia cepacia with sustained persistence in the spleen

Burkholderia cepacia is an opportunistic pathogen that causes severe system ic infections in patients with chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) or with cystic fibrosis (CF), but its mechanisms of virulence are poorly understood . We developed a murine model of systemic infection in wild-type (WT) and g amma interferon knockout (GKO) BALB/c mice to facilitate dissection of comp onents of pathogenicity and host defense. Both WT and GKO mice were suscept ible to chronic splenic infection with B. cepacia, but not with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. B. cepacia strains from patients with CGD persisted longer tha n those from CF patients. C57BL/6 mice were the most susceptible murine str ain; bacteria persisted in the spleen for 2 months. DBA/2, BALB/c, and A/J strains of mice were relatively resistant to infection. Certain strains of B. cepacia complex can persist in the murine spleen after systemic infectio n; this may provide clues to its virulence in compromised hosts, such as th ose with CGD and CF.