Novel Murine Model of Pneumococcal Pneumonia: Use of Temperature as a Measure of Disease Severity To Compare the Efficacies of Moxifloxacin and Levofloxacin

Surface temperature measured by an infrared temperature-scanning thermometer was used to evaluate disease severity and predict imminent death in a murine model of pneumococcal pneumonia. We showed that a decrease in temperature was associated with increasing severity of disease and concomitant histological changes and also that a temperature of 30 degrees C or less was a predictor of death. Furthermore, viable bacterial counts in the lungs of …