Viruses (Aug 2021)

Acute Late-Stage Myocarditis in the Crab-Eating Macaque Model of Hemorrhagic Smallpox

  • Reed F. Johnson,
  • Lauren A. Keith,
  • Timothy K. Cooper,
  • Srikanth Yellayi,
  • Nicole M. Josleyn,
  • Krisztina B. Janosko,
  • James D. Pettitt,
  • David Thomasson,
  • Katie R. Hagen,
  • Robin Gross,
  • John G. Bernbaum,
  • Debbie Douglas,
  • Jeffrey Solomon,
  • Mark Martinez,
  • Kurt Cooper,
  • Marisa St. Claire,
  • Danny R. Ragland,
  • Peter B. Jahrling,
  • Jens H. Kuhn,
  • Andrew E. Arai

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/v13081571
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 8
p. 1571

Abstract

Read online

Hemorrhagic smallpox, caused by variola virus (VARV), was a rare but nearly 100% lethal human disease manifestation. Hemorrhagic smallpox is frequently characterized by secondary bacterial infection, coagulopathy, and myocardial and subendocardial hemorrhages. Previous experiments have demonstrated that intravenous (IV) cowpox virus (CPXV) exposure of macaques mimics human hemorrhagic smallpox. The goal of this experiment was to further understand the onset, nature, and severity of cardiac pathology and how it may contribute to disease. The findings support an acute late-stage myocarditis with lymphohistiocytic infiltrates in the CPXV model of hemorrhagic smallpox.

Keywords