Lower doses of NMI resulted in greater relative bacterial numbers in lungs of C57BL/6 mice.

<p>NMI <i>Coxiella</i> bacterial burdens were assessed 9 days PI in groups of 5 C57BL/6 mice infected with either 1×10³ or 10⁵ starting inocula. Bacterial burdens in lung tissue were assessed by quantitative RT-PCR. Data is expressed as Log10 change in total genome copies per lung. A significant increase in the final bacterial burden was observed in the lower starting inocula group for this mouse strain (Student T test p<0.0001).