The effect of bacteria infection on mean selected body temperature in the common Agama, agama agama: a dose-response...

1. The fever response was studied in 43 common agamas using a self-pairing experiment in which animals received an intraperitoneal injection of sterile saline and an injection of one of six dosages of dead Aeromonas sobria (1 x 10(6), 1 x 10(7), 1 x 10(8), 1 x 10(9), 1 x 10(10), and 1 x 10(11) total organisms). 2. The results demonstrated a significant increase in Tb (1.6-3.1 degrees C) above the mean selected body temperature (MSBT) of the saline injection animals over a bacteria infection range of three orders of magnitude. At 1 x 10(8) organisms, an increase was observed on bacteria day 1 while at dosages of 1 x 10(9) and 1 x 10(10) an increase was observed on bacteria days 1 and 2. 3. At dosages of 1 x 10(6) and 1 x 10(7) there was no difference between saline MSBT and bacteria MSBT. 4. At a dosage of 1 x 10(11), MSBTs on bacteria days 1 and 2 were below saline MSBT. 5. The average duration of the fever response is related to the level of infection; however, the magnitude of the fever is relatively independent of the level of infection.