title: Vaccines against viral hemorrhagic fevers: non-human primate models.
abstract: Viral hemorrhagic fevers are a group of disease syndromes caused by infection with certain RNA viruses. The disease is marked by a febrile response, malaise, coagulopathy and vascular permeability culminating in death. Case fatality rates can reach 90% depending on the etiologic agent. Currently, there is no approved antiviral treatment. Because of the high case fatality, risk of importation and the potential to use these agents as biological weapons, development of countermeasures to these agents is a high priority. The sporadic nature of disease outbreaks and the ethical issues associated with conducting a human trial for such diseases make human studies impractical; therefore, development of countermeasures must occur in relevant animal models. Non-human primates are superior models to study infectious disease because their immune system is similar to humans and they are good predictors of efficacy in vaccine development and other intervention strategies. This review article summarizes viral hemorrhagic fever non-human primate models.
authors: Department of Virology and Immunology, Southwest National Primate Research Center, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, San Antonio, TX, USA.
authors: Ricardo
authors: R
authors: Carrion
authors: Jean L
authors: JL
authors: Patterson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006482:Hemorrhagic Fevers, Viral / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D011323:Primates; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D014765:Viral Vaccines