Mousepox in the C57BL/6 strain provides an improved model for evaluating anti-poxvirus therapies.

ABSTRACT: The intranasal lethal mousepox model employing the A/Ncr mouse strain is used to evaluate anti-orthopoxvirus therapies. These infections mimic large droplet transmission and result in 100% mortality within 7-10 days with as little as 1 PFU of ectromelia virus. Unlike the A/Ncr model, humans are less susceptible to lethal respiratory infections with variola virus and monkeypox virus as demonstrated by their lower mortality rates. In this study we show that a low dose intranasal infection of C57BL/6 mice results in 60-80% mortality and better models smallpox. Comparing CMX001 (HDP-cidofovir) efficacy in the A/Ncr strain and the C57BL/6 strain revealed that delayed treatment with CMX001 is more efficacious at preventing severe disease in the C57BL/6 strain. The increased efficacy of CMX001 in

SUBMITTER: Parker S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2801418 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature