La Crosse virus infectivity, pathogenesis, and immunogenicity in mice and monkeys.

ABSTRACT:

Background

La Crosse virus (LACV), family Bunyaviridae, was first identified as a human pathogen in 1960 after its isolation from a 4 year-old girl with fatal encephalitis in La Crosse, Wisconsin. LACV is a major cause of pediatric encephalitis in North America and infects up to 300,000 persons each year of which 70-130 result in severe disease of the central nervous system (CNS). As an initial step in the establishment of useful animal models to support vaccine development, we examined LACV infectivity, pathogenesis, and immunogenicity in both weanling mice and rhesus monkeys.

Results

Following intraperitoneal inoculation of mice, LACV replicated in various organs before reaching the CNS where it replicates to high titer causing death from neurological disease. The peripher

SUBMITTER: Bennett RS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2276200 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature