Isolation of Pasteurella pneumotropica from rodents in South Africa

Four thousand, five hundred and sixteen rodents of 27 species were captured in widely separated localities in South Africa over a period of ten years. Samples of spleen, lung, heart, liver and rectal tissue with faeces were tested for the presence of zoonotic bacteria and 109 isolations of Pasteurella pneumotropica were made from 11 species. Latent infection with the organism was found to be widespread although there were temporal fluctuations in prevalence. Field and laboratory evidence suggest that P. pneumotropica may be associated with, but not the primary cause of, rodent epizootics in the wild.