Natural History of Nipah Virus in Hamsters: Strain, Route, and Sex-Associated Variability Characterized Using Large Datasets to Inform Pre-Clinical Study Design
Abstract
Abstract Nipah virus (NiV) comprises two strains, Malaysia and Bangladesh, associated with severe respiratory and/or neurological disease in humans. Experimentally infected Syrian hamsters demonstrate the full spectrum of clinical signs reported in humans, serving as valuable pre-clinical screening models for NiV disease. Medical countermeasure development relies on well-characterized disease models to understand disease progression, guiding pre-clinical and clinical trial design. Variability in NiV-disease presentation and outcome necessitates large group sizes in animal model natural history studies. To advance the use of hamsters in NiV pre-clinical studies, we analyzed in-house data from 19 independent studies comprising over 500 hamsters intranasally or intraperitoneally infected with NiV-Malaysia or NiV-Bangladesh. We demonstrate strain- and route-associated differences in clinical course, lethality, and viral loads, presenting cohort and individual data. These analyses provide key data to guide experimental design for pathogenesis, pathophysiology, and medical countermeasure studies.
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a cohort study, done in people. Its evidence level is 3 of 5 (Moderate · trial / cohort / secondary analysis). Trials without a large randomized design, cohorts and secondary analyses give moderate evidence.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Improving sleep quality leads to better mental health: A meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
- Tocilizumab in patients with severe COVID-19: a retrospective cohort study
- A new aging measure captures morbidity and mortality risk across diverse subpopulations from NHANES IV: A cohort study
- Fruit, vegetable, and legume intake, and cardiovascular disease and deaths in 18 countries (PURE): a prospective cohort study
- Are noise and air pollution related to the incidence of dementia? A cohort study in London, England
- Long COVID symptoms and duration in SARS-CoV-2 positive children — a nationwide cohort study
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.