[Isolation and identification of the W-88 strain of spotted fever group rickettsiae from a human case in Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia].

One strain of spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiae was isolated from a patient with febrile and headache who was missdiagnosed as common cold. The rickettsia was isolated by inoculation of yolk sacs of embryonated hen eggs with the patient's blood. The isolate was named as W-88 following the initial letter of the patient's name. It is the first time to report the isolation of SFG rickettsiae from human being who lived in city in China. In this study we compared the antigens of W-88 strain with seven prototype strains of SFG rickettsiae and six Chinese strains of SFG rickettsiae with one species-specific monoclonal antibody and one group reactive monoclonal antibody by indirect-immunofluorescence assay. The results demonstrated that W-88 strain and other Chinese strains JH-74, An-84, FT-84, MT-84, Se-85, To-85 of SFG rickettsiae were found identical to Rickettsia sibirica (strains 232 and 246) and differ from other prototypes of SFG rickettsiae.