Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Mar 29;91(8):e00009-17.
doi: 10.1128/JVI.00009-17. Print 2017 Apr 15.

Animal Models of Zika Virus Infection, Pathogenesis, and Immunity

Thomas E Morrison  1 , Michael S Diamond  2   3   4   5
Affiliations
Review

Animal Models of Zika Virus Infection, Pathogenesis, and Immunity

Thomas E Morrison et al. J Virol. .

Abstract

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging mosquito-transmitted flavivirus that now causes epidemics affecting millions of people on multiple continents. The virus has received global attention because of some of its unusual epidemiological and clinical features, including persistent infection in the male reproductive tract and sexual transmission, an ability to cross the placenta during pregnancy and infect the developing fetus to cause congenital malformations, and its association with Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults. This past year has witnessed an intensive effort by the global scientific community to understand the biology of ZIKV and to develop pathogenesis models for the rapid testing of possible countermeasures. Here, we review the recent advances in and utility and limitations of newly developed mouse and nonhuman primate models of ZIKV infection and pathogenesis.

Keywords: Zika virus; animal models; flavivirus; viral pathogenesis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIG 1
FIG 1
Use of newly developed mouse and NHP models of ZIKV infection and pathogenesis. The utility of currently described animal models of ZIKV infection is illustrated. Models are being employed for the investigation of basic features of ZIKV infection and pathogenesis and to investigate unusual features of ZIKV biology, including sexual transmission, transplacental transmission, and congenital malformations in developing fetuses. In addition, these models are being used to evaluate candidate vaccines and therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of ZIKV disease in individuals and in fetuses during infection of pregnant hosts.
None
None
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Dick GW, Kitchen SF, Haddow AJ. 1952. Zika virus. I. Isolations and serological specificity Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 46:509–520. doi: 10.1016/0035-9203(52)90042-4. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Musso D, Gubler DJ. 2016. Zika virus. Clin Microbiol Rev 29:487–524. doi: 10.1128/CMR.00072-15. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Duffy MR, Chen TH, Hancock WT, Powers AM, Kool JL, Lanciotti RS, Pretrick M, Marfel M, Holzbauer S, Dubray C, Guillaumot L, Griggs A, Bel M, Lambert AJ, Laven J, Kosoy O, Panella A, Biggerstaff BJ, Fischer M, Hayes EB. 2009. Zika virus outbreak on Yap Island, Federated States of Micronesia. N Engl J Med 360:2536–2543. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa0805715. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cao-Lormeau VM, Roche C, Teissier A, Robin E, Berry AL, Mallet HP, Sall AA, Musso D. 2014. Zika virus, French Polynesia, South Pacific, 2013. Emerg Infect Dis 20:1085–1086. doi: 10.3201/eid2006.140138. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cao-Lormeau VM, Blake A, Mons S, Lastere S, Roche C, Vanhomwegen J, Dub T, Baudouin L, Teissier A, Larre P, Vial AL, Decam C, Choumet V, Halstead SK, Willison HJ, Musset L, Manuguerra JC, Despres P, Fournier E, Mallet HP, Musso D, Fontanet A, Neil J, Ghawche F. 2016. Guillain-Barre syndrome outbreak associated with Zika virus infection in French Polynesia: a case-control study. Lancet 387:1531–1539. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)00562-6. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types