Laboratory Animal Models for Rift Valley Fever Virus Disease

Tracey L Freeman; Anita K McElroy

doi:10.1007/978-1-0716-3926-9_27

Laboratory Animal Models for Rift Valley Fever Virus Disease

Methods Mol Biol. 2024:2824:425-445. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3926-9_27.

Authors

Tracey L Freeman^{1

2}, Anita K McElroy^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
² University of Pittsburgh Center for Vaccine Research, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
³ University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. [email protected].
⁴ University of Pittsburgh Center for Vaccine Research, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. [email protected].

PMID: 39039428
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3926-9_27

Abstract

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is an arboviral pathogen of clinical and agricultural relevance. The ongoing development of targeted RVFV prophylactics and therapeutics is overwhelmingly dependent on animal models due to both natural, that is, sporadic outbreaks, and structural, for example, underresourcing of endemic regions, limitations in accessing human patient samples and cohorts. Elucidating mechanisms of viral pathogenesis and testing therapeutics is further complicated by the diverse manifestations of RVFV disease and the heterogeneity of the host response to infection. In this chapter, we describe major clinical manifestations of RVFV infection and discuss the laboratory animal models used to study each.

Keywords: Animal models; Encephalitis; Exposure route; Hemorrhagic fever; Hepatitis; Obstetric complications; Ocular disease; RVFV; Reverse genetics; Vertical transmission.

MeSH terms

Animals
Animals, Laboratory / virology
Disease Models, Animal*
Humans
Mice
Rift Valley Fever* / virology
Rift Valley fever virus* / pathogenicity