Some physiological and immunological properties of Pasteurella pestis recovered from aerosols.

When bacteria are disseminated into air, the concentration of viable cells in the aerosol decreases with time. It has been shown that part of this loss is due to impingement of cells on the surfaces of the container and to settling, but there is also considerable evidence for biological inactivation (Lester, 1948; Dunklin and Puck, 1948; Boyd and Forstat, 1953). This study has been undertaken to determine the extent of physiological alteration associated with aerosolization, and if possible, to correlate these alterations with changes in virulence. This report presents data which were obtained from a number of physiological and immunological experiments with organisms recovered from aerosols.