title: Persistent West Nile virus infection in the golden hamster: studies on its mechanism and possible implications for other flavivirus infections.
abstract: Golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) experimentally infected with West Nile virus (WNV) developed chronic renal infection and persistent shedding of virus in urine for up to 8 months, despite initial rapid clearance of virus from blood and the timely appearance of high levels of specific neutralizing antibodies. Infectious WNV could be recovered by direct culture of their urine and by cocultivation of kidney tissue for up to 247 days after initial infection. Only moderate histopathologic changes were observed in the kidneys or brain of the chronically infected hamsters, although WNV antigen was readily detected by immunohistochemistry within epithelium, interstitial cells, and macrophages in the distal renal tubules. Comparison of WNV isolates from serial urine samples from individual hamsters over several months indicated that the virus underwent both genetic and phenotypic changes during persistent infection. These findings are similar to previous reports of persistent infection with tickborne encephalitis and Modoc viruses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77555-0609, USA. rtesh@utmb.edu
authors.forename: Robert B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Tesh
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siirin
authors.forename: Hilda
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guzman
authors.forename: Amelia P A
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Travassos da Rosa
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.forename: Marcio R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.forename: Shu-Yuan
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Xiao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D000917:Antibody Formation; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D006224:Cricetinae; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D018177:Flavivirus Infections / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007668:Kidney / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D008647:Mesocricetus; D014766:Viremia / Q000276:immunology; D014901:West Nile Fever / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014902:West Nile virus / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000956:Antigens, Viral