ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the mammalian models that recapitulate pivotal aspects of severe P. aeruginosa pathogenicity, namely, burn and open wound, acute and persistent lung infection, and bacteremia, as well as less severe but potentially dangerous infections of the ear, eye, and intestinal tract. P. aeruginosa-induced gut-derived sepsis models mimic the pathophysiology of humans, because they involve intestinal colonization, proliferation, and invasion of other host tissues. The P. aeruginosa-infected burn-wound sepsis model is used to mimic the human burn wound sepsis. P. aeruginosa is a common cause of bacterial keratitis in humans, but it can also infect the cornea of other mammals including mice, rabbits, and guinea pigs. Drosophila melanogaster, despite its small size, is a great invertebrate model organism that adequately reflects some aspects of the mammalian pathogenesis of infection. The greater wax moth, the lepidopteran Galleria mellonella, is a widely used model host for investigating microbial pathogenesis.
