Viral RNA and infectious virus in mucosal specimens from guinea pigs modelling early phases of lethal and non-lethal Lassa fever

ABSTRACT

Lassa fever (LF) is endemic to broad regions of West Africa. Infection with Lassa virus (LASV), the etiologic agent of LF, results in a spectrum of clinical signs in humans, including severe and lethal hemorrhagic disease. Person-to-person transmission occurs through direct contact with body fluids or contaminated bedding and clothing. To investigate transmission risk in acute LASV infection, we evaluated viral RNA and infectious virus obtained from conjunctival, nasal, oral, genital, and rectal swab specimens from guinea pigs modelling lethal and non-lethal LF. Viral RNA and infectious virus were detected in all specimen types beginning 8 days post infection, prior to onset of fever. In the pre-clinical and clinical period, virus was isolated from a subset of nasal, oral, genital, and rectal swabs, and from all conjunctival swabs. Overall, conjunctival and nasal specimens most frequently yielded infectious virus. These findings indicate mucosal transmission risk based on virus isolation from various sites early in infection and support potential utility of minimally invasive specimen evaluation by RT-qPCR for LASV diagnostics.

KEYWORDS:

• Lassa virus
• arenavirus
• viral hemorrhagic fever
• virus isolation
• body fluids
• mucosal swab
• shedding
• transmission

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr Markus Kainulainen for virus preparation and characterization, and Dr Tatyana Klimova for assistance with editing the manuscript.

Disclaimer

The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by CDC Emerging Infectious Disease Research Core Funds.