Study of the virulence of african horse sickness virus serotypeS 4 and 9 in two mouse models

Objectives
African horse sickness is an infectious disease caused by a double stranded positive RNA virus which belongs to the family Reoviridae, genus Orbivirus. The virus has nine known antigenically distinct serotypes and is transmitted by a culicoides biting midge, principally Culicoides imicola. African horse sickness causes severe morbidity and mortality up to 95 % in horses with severe economic losses. The establishment of an experimental mouse model is needed for the investigation of the pathogenesis of this infection.
Methods
Two mouse models, interferon-α receptor knock-out mice and immunocompetent mice, were tested. The used virus for mice inoculations belonged to the two serotypes which caused epidemics in Europe, serotypes 4 and 9. The virus was inoculated by subcutaneous route and/or by intra-nasal route. Samples of whole blood were taken for each infected and knock-out mice at regular intervals. The organs (liver, spleen, kidney, lung and brain) were taken at the end of experience of when the most affected mices were euthanasied. All these samples were tested by a qRT-PCR targeting African horse sickness genome segment 7.
Results
The results demonstrate the potential of the immunodeficient mouse model for both clinical and biological features. Both serotypes of African horse sickness were detected by qRT-PCR until three weeks post-infection (corresponding with the end of the experience) in blood.
Conclusions
The setting up of this mouse model has developed a tool for efficient in vivo study to characterize the in vivo virulence of this virus, to monitor the evolution of viral populations during in vivo replication cycles and to test the competence or vectorial capacity of indigenous Culicoides.
Acknowledgement
Research supported by the Belgium Federal Public Service, Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment.