Serology of Haemophilus (Actino-Bacillus) Pleuropneumoniae Serotype 5 Strains: Establishment of Subtypes A and B

Abstract

The serological characteristicis of 14 strains assigned to serotype 5 were examined by the slide agglutination test, the indirect haemagglutination (IHA) test and by gel diffusion. All the strains possessed identical capsular antigenic determinants of polysaccharide (PS) nature and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) nature. However, based upon a capsular antigenic determinant of PS nature the strains could be divided in two subtypes. It is therefore proposed to refer to the H. pleuropneumoniae strains of serotype 5 to two subtypes: subtype a with strain K17 as the subtype strain and subtype b with strain L20 as the subtype strain.