Natural History of Nipah Virus in Hamsters: Strain, Route, and Sex-Associated Variability Characterized Using Large Datasets to Inform Pre-Clinical Study Design

作者：Katherine Davies, Stephen R. Welch, JoAnn D. Coleman-McCray, Teresa E. Sorvillo, Virginia Aida-Ficken, Christina F. Spiropoulou, Jessica R. Spengler · 发表于：The Journal of Infectious Diseases · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1093/infdis/jiaf549 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Virology and Viral Diseases、Poxvirus research and outbreaks、Parasitic Diseases Research and Treatment

Nipah virus (NiV) comprises two strains, Malaysia and Bangladesh, associated with severe respiratory and/or neurological disease in humans. Experimentally infected Syrian hamsters demonstrate the full spectrum of clinical signs reported in humans, serving as valuable pre-clinical screening models for NiV disease. Medical countermeasure development relies on well-characterized disease models to understand disease progression, guiding pre-clinical and clinical trial design. Variability in NiV-disease presentation and outcome necessitates large group sizes in animal model natural history studies. To advance the use of hamsters in NiV pre-clinical studies, we analyzed in-house data from 19 independent studies comprising over 500 hamsters intranasally or intraperitoneally infected with NiV-Malaysia or NiV-Bangladesh. We demonstrate strain- and route-associated differences in clinical course, lethality, and viral loads, presenting cohort and individual data. These analyses provide key data to guide experimental design for pathogenesis, pathophysiology, and medical countermeasure studies.