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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2020.11.05.369520

Immunocompetent Mouse Model for Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus

Hawman, D. W.·Meade-White, K.·Leventhal, S.·Feldmann, F.·Okumura, A.·Smith, B.·Scott, D.·Feldmann, H.
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Abstract

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a severe tick-borne febrile illness with wide geographic distribution. CCHF is caused by infection with the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) and case fatality rates can be as high as 30%. Despite causing severe disease in humans, our understanding of the host and viral determinants of CCHFV pathogenesis are limited. A major limitation in the investigation of CCHF has been the lack of suitable small animal models. Wild-type mice are resistant to clinical isolates of CCHFV and consequently, mice must be deficient in type I interferon responses to study the more severe aspects of CCHFV. We report here a mouse-adapted variant of CCHFV that recapitulates in adult, immunocompetent mice the severe CCHF observed in humans. This mouse-adapted variant of CCHFV significantly improves our ability to study host and viral determinants of CCHFV-induced disease in a highly tractable mouse model.

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Hawman, D. W., Meade-White, K., Leventhal, S., Feldmann, F., Okumura, A., Smith, B., Scott, D., Feldmann, H.. 2020-11-05. Immunocompetent Mouse Model for Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.05.369520

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