Spirochete from the rabbit tick, Haemaphysalis leporispalustris (Packard). I. Isolation and preliminary characterization.

An unidentified spirochete, referred to as the 277F agent, was isolated from Haemaphysalis leporispalustris ticks from two cottontail rabbits by inoculation of the tick suspension into embryonated chicken eggs. Because of its minute width (0.1 mu), the organism was difficult to see when stained by the Giemsa method, but was readily demonstrated by silver impregnation or fluorescent-antibody procedures. In dark-field microscopy, the spirochetes appeared uniformly and rather tightly coiled, and exhibited typical corkscrewlike motility. After yolk-sac inoculation, the agent was highly lethal for chick embryos and was recovered in large quantity from several embryonic tissues and fluids. It could also be maintained in nonfertile eggs and in an enriched liquid medium. This previously undescribed spirochete could pass through Berkefeld N but not Seitz EK filters. It was relatively resistant to heat and to penicillin or sulfadiazine, but was markedly inhibited by streptomycin, broad-spectrum antibiotics, and homologous neutralizing antiserum. Of several species of animals tested for susceptibility to this spirochete, only the snowshoe hare gave evidence of infection.