The Makona Variant of Ebola Virus Is Highly Lethal to Immunocompromised Mice and Immunocompetent Ferrets. (7th June 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wong, Gary; Leung, Anders; He, Shihua; Cao, Wenguang; De La Vega, Marc-Antoine; Griffin, Bryan D; Soule, Geoff; Kobinger, Gary P; Kobasa, Darwyn; Qiu, Xiangguo
• Is Part Of: Journal of infectious diseases. Volume 218(2018)Supplement 5
• Page Start: S466
• Page End: S470
• Publication Date: 2018-06-07
• Subjects: Ebola -- ferrets -- knockout mice -- pathogenicity -- reverse genetics; Communicable diseases -- Periodicals; Diseases -- Causes and theories of causation -- Periodicals; Medicine -- Periodicals; Communicable Diseases -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 616.9
• DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiy141
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-1899

Abstract

Abstract : An outbreak caused by a new Ebola strain in West Africa killed over 11, 000 people. Here, we present a new reverse genetics system to rescue this virus and show that this rescued Ebola is highly pathogenic in mice and ferrets. Abstract: During 2013–2016, a novel isolate of Ebola virus (EBOV-Makona) caused an epidemic in West Africa. The virus was distinct from known EBOV strains (EBOV-Kikwit and EBOV-Mayinga), which were responsible for previous outbreaks in Central Africa. To investigate the pathogenicity of EBOV-Makona, we engineered and rescued an early isolate (H.sapiens-wt/GIN/2014/Makona-Gueckedou-C07, called rgEBOV-C07) using an updated reverse-genetics system. rgEBOV-C07 was found to be highly pathogenic in both the knockout mouse and ferret models, with median lethal dose values of 0.078 and 0.015 plaque-forming units, respectively. Therefore, these animals are appropriate for screening potential countermeasures against EBOV-Makona without the need for species adaptation.