Use of live Variola virus to determine whether CAST/EiJ mice are a suitable surrogate animal model for human smallpox.

In this study, we inoculated CAST/EiJ mice with a range of VARV doses (102-106 plaque forming units). Some animals had detectable viable VARV from the oropharynx between days 3 and 12 post inoculation. Despite evidence of disease, the CAST/EiJ mouse does not provide a model for clinical smallpox due to mild signs of morbidity and limited skin lesions. However, in contrast to previous rodent models using VARV challenge (i.e. prairie dogs and SCID mice), a robust immune response was observed in the CAST/EiJ mice (measured by Immunoglobulin G enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). This is an advantage of this model for the study of VARV and presents a unique potential for the study of the immunomodulatory pathways following VARV infection. PMID: 31593747 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31593747?dopt=Abstract

Source: Virus Research - October 4, 2019 Category: Virology Authors: Gallardo-Romero NF, Hutson CL, Carroll D, Kondas AV, Salzer JS, Dietz-Ostergaard S, Smith S, Hudson P, Olson V, Damon I Tags: Virus Res Source Type: research