Speculation on how the bacterium Yersinia pestis re-emerges after years of absence in the Prebalkhash region in Kazakhstan has been ongoing for half a century, but the mechanism is still unclear. One of the theories is that plague persists in its reservoir host (the great gerbil) in so-called hotspots, i.e. small regions in which the conditions remain favourable for plague to persist during tim...

Amplitude and phase responses of distortion product otoacoustic emissions as a function of stimulus frequency ratio were measured for frequencies between 2 and 48 kHz, in Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculates) aged 15 to 30 days after birth. After baseline measurements, furosemide was administered to distinguish active from passive emissions. At all ages, structure in the form of multiple pe...

This study was conducted to optimize a fusion protein vaccine for translational development as against the human tropical parasitic infection, lymphatic filariasis (LF). The candidate, His-tagged r Bm HAXT developed previously in our laboratory and tested various animal models including mouse, gerbils Rhesus macaque where it exhibited significant levels of vaccine-induced protection. However, c...

Amoxicillin at doses of 0.2 to 5 mg/kg of body weight was administered for the treatment of pneumococcal otitis media in a gerbil model. Doses greater than or equal to 2.5 mg/kg, which resulted in concentrations in middle ear fluid of > or = 1.4 microg/ml and concentrations in serum higher than the MIC (1 microg/ml) for > or = 14% of the dosing interval, were both clinically and bacteriological...

We describe a simple and feasible procedure for performing intravenous administration of substances in the gerbil. Under light anaesthesia, animals were held in dorsal recumbency and a very small incision of skin, parallel to the femoral vein on the internal side of the thigh, was made. The vein is easily accessible via thin skin incision. An insulin syringe and a 30 G needle were used for the ...

The collection of the immature stages of Dermacentor rhinocerinus from host animals is described for the first time. These are the bushveld gerbil (Tatera leucogaster, from which larvae and nymphs were collected, the red veld rat (Aethomys crysophilus), from which a larva was collected, and the Natal multimammate rat (Mastomys natalensis), from which a nymph was collected. The rodents were exam...