Scanning electronmicroscopic studies of Bordetella bronchiseptica on the rabbit tracheal mucosa.

Rabbit tracheal mucous membrane cultivated on solid agar medium was infected with either Bordetella bronchiseptica or Staphylococcus aureus. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that large numbers of B. bronchiseptica cells became entangled with the cilia of the tracheal epithelial cells. In contrast, S. aureus cells showed no such intimate interaction with the cilia.