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Volume 21, Number 3—March 2015
Dispatch

Reemergence of Murine Typhus in Galveston, Texas, USA, 2013

Lucas S. BlantonComments to Author , Rahat F. Vohra, Donald H. Bouyer, and David Walker
Author affiliations: University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA

Main Article

Table 2

Analysis of serosurvey samples found reactive to Rickettsia typhi by IFA and Western blotting, Galveston, Texas, 2013*

Sample Reciprocal IFA titers
 Western blot analysis
R. typhi R. rickettsii R. typhi protein lysate (OmpB)† R. rickettsii protein lysate (OmpA‡)§
1 256 NR + –¶
2 128 NR + –
3 128 NR + –
4 128 NR + –
5 256 NR + –
6 128 NR + –
7 1024 128 + –
8 128 NR + –

*Omp, outer membrane protein; NR, nonreactive at a titer of 1:128.
†Reactivity to the panrickettsial 135-kDa OmpB.
Reactivity to the spotted fever group 190-kDa OmpA.
§All serum samples reacted with R. rickettsii OmpB as described for spotted fever and typhus group OmpB antigens (10).
¶Bands corresponding to reactivity to OmpB but not OmpA confirms typhus group specificity.

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