Francisella tularensis subsp. tularensis SCHU S4

Francisella tularensis is a non-motile, aerobic, rod-shaped Gram-negative bacterium and is the causative agent of tularemia. Tularemia can affect both humans and animals. The subspecies tularensis (Type A) and holarctica (Type B) are the ones most commonly associated with the human disease. Its natural hosts are rabbits, hares, beavers and other rodents, as well as flies and mosquitos. The disease can be transmitted by different ways: through scratches or bites from animals, through consumption of contaminated meat or water or through inhalation of bacteria. The symptoms developed by infected people directly reflect the mode of transmission: pneumonia-like illness for the airborne transmission; throat infection, stomach pain, diarrhea and vomiting for the gastrointestinal transmission; apparition of a sore at the entry point of the bacteria and swelling of the draining lymph nodes for transmission via skin wounds. Tularemia can be treated with antibiotics, but without therapy the mortality rate of respiratory tularemia can be as high as 5-30%. F.tularensis is very infectious and ten cells are sufficient to cause infection in humans. The bacterium can survive for weeks at low temperatures in water, soil or animal carcasses. During World War II, the use of F.tularensis as a biological weapon was studied by Japan, Soviet Union and USA. Strain WY96-3418 was isolated from a human finger wound in 1996. (EBI Integr8)