Development of a model of Saint Louis encephalitis infection and disease in mice.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Flaviviruses are a genre of closely related viral pathogens which emerged in the last decades in Brazil and in the world. Saint (St.) Louis encephalitis virus (SLEV) is a neglected flavivirus that can cause a severe neurological disease that may lead to death or sequelae. St. Louis encephalitis pathogenesis is poorly understood, which hinders the development of specific treatment or vaccine.

Methods

To address this problem, we developed a model of SLEV infection in mice to study mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of severe disease. The model consists in the intracranial inoculation of the SLEV strain BeH 355964, a strain isolated from a symptomatic human patient in Brazil, in adult immunocompetent mice.

Results

Inoculated mice presented SLEV replicatio

SUBMITTER: Marques RE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5361699 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature