Viruses, Vol. 16, Pages 401: Difference in Intraspecies Transmissibility of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus Depending on Abrogating Type 1 Interferon Signaling in Mice

Viruses, Vol. 16, Pages 401: Difference in Intraspecies Transmissibility of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus Depending on Abrogating Type 1 Interferon Signaling in Mice Viruses doi: 10.3390/v16030401 Authors: Byungkwan Oh Seok-Chan Park Myeon-Sik Yang Daram Yang Gaeul Ham Dongseob Tark Myung Jo You Sang-Ik Oh Bumseok Kim Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), a tick-borne zoonotic disease, is caused by infection with SFTS virus (SFTSV). A previous study reported that human-to-human direct transmission of SFTSV can occur. However, potential animal-to-animal transmission of SFTSV without ticks has not been fully clarified. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate potential mice-to-mice transmission of SFTSV by co-housing three groups of mice [i.e., wild-type mice (WT), mice injected with an anti-type I interferon-α receptor-blocking antibody (IFNAR Ab), and mice with knockout of type I interferon-α receptor (IFNAR KO)] as spreaders or recipients with different immune competence. As a result, co-housed IFNAR Ab and IFNAR KO mice showed body weight loss with SFTS viral antigens detected in their sera, extracorporeal secretions, and various organs. Based on histopathology, white pulp atrophy in the spleen was observed in all co-housed mice except WT mice. These results obviously show that IFNAR Ab and IFNAR KO mice, as spreaders, exhibited higher transmissibility to co-housed mice than WT...
Source: Viruses - Category: Virology Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research