Pathogenesis of Vesicular Stomatitis New Jersey Virus Infection in Deer Mice ( Peromyscus maniculatus) Transmitted by Black Flies ( Simulium vittatum).
The natural transmission of vesicular stomatitis New Jersey virus (VSNJV), an arthropod-borne virus, is not completely understood. Rodents may have a role as reservoir or amplifying hosts. In this study, juvenile and nestling deer mice ( Peromyscus maniculatus) were exposed to VSNJV-infected black fly ( Simulium vittatum) bites followed by a second exposure to naive black flies on the nestling mice. Severe neurological signs were observed in some juvenile mice by 6 to 8 days postinoculation (DPI); viremia was not detected in 25 juvenile deer mice following exposure to VSNJV-infected fly bites. Both juvenile and nestling mice had lesions and viral antigen in the central nervous system (CNS); in juveniles, their distribution suggested that the sensory pathway was the most likely route to the CNS. In contrast, a hematogenous route was probably involved in nestling mice, since all of these mice developed viremia and had widespread antigen distribution in the CNS and other tissues on 2 DPI. VSNJV was recovered from naive flies that fed on viremic nestling mice. This is the first report of viremia in a potential natural host following infection with VSNJV via insect bite and conversely of an insect becoming infected with VSNJV by feeding on a viremic host. These results, along with histopathology and immunohistochemistry, show that nestling mice have widespread dissemination of VSNJV following VSNJV-infected black fly bite and are a potential reservoir or amplifying host for VSNJV.
1 Department of Pathology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.|2 Department of Pathology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
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Mesquita
3 Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.|4 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Bacterial Diseases, Respiratory Diseases Branch, Atlanta, GA, USA.
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Diaz
1 Department of Pathology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
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Howerth
3 Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
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Stallknecht
5 Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
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Noblet
5 Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
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Gray
3 Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
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Mead
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000821:virology; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D010542:Peromyscus / Q000821:virology*; D018353:Rhabdoviridae Infections / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D012843:Simuliidae / Q000821:virology*; D054260:Vesicular stomatitis New Jersey virus / Q000502:physiology*; D014766:Viremia / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary / Q000821:virology
arbovirus; arthropod-borne virus; deer mouse; encephalitis; neuropathogenesis; reservoir host; transmission; vesicular stomatitis virus