Parker Scott, Crump Ryan, Hartzler Hollyce, Buller R Mark
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, 1100 South Grand Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63104, USA.
Viruses. 2017 Aug 1;9(8):203. doi: 10.3390/v9080203.
Taterapox virus (TATV), which was isolated from an African gerbil () in 1975, is the most closely related virus to variola; however, only the original report has examined its virology. We have evaluated the tropism of TATV in vivo in small animals. We found that TATV does not infect , a species of African dormouse, but does induce seroconversion in the Mongolian gerbil () and in mice; however, in wild-type mice and gerbils, the virus produces an unapparent infection. Following intranasal and footpad inoculations with 1 × 10⁶ plaque forming units (PFU) of TATV, immunocompromised mice showed signs of disease but did not die; however, SCID mice were susceptible to intranasal and footpad infections with 100% mortality observed by Day 35 and Day 54, respectively. We show that death is unlikely to be a result of the virus mutating to have increased virulence and that SCID mice are capable of transmitting TATV to C57BL/6 and C57BL/6 animals; however, transmission did not occur from TATV inoculated wild-type or mice. Comparisons with ectromelia (the etiological agent of mousepox) suggest that TATV behaves differently both at the site of inoculation and in the immune response that it triggers.
塔特拉痘病毒（TATV）于1975年从一只非洲沙鼠中分离出来，是与天花病毒关系最为密切的病毒；然而，仅有最初的报告对其病毒学进行了研究。我们评估了TATV在小动物体内的嗜性。我们发现TATV不会感染非洲睡鼠属的一种动物，但会在蒙古沙鼠和小鼠中诱导血清转化；然而，在野生型小鼠和沙鼠中，该病毒会产生隐性感染。用1×10⁶ 蚀斑形成单位（PFU）的TATV进行鼻内和足垫接种后，免疫受损小鼠出现疾病症状但未死亡；然而，重症联合免疫缺陷（SCID）小鼠易受鼻内和足垫感染，分别在第35天和第54天观察到100%的死亡率。我们表明，死亡不太可能是病毒发生变异导致毒力增强的结果，并且SCID小鼠能够将TATV传播给C57BL/6和C57BL/6动物；然而，接种TATV的野生型或小鼠并未发生传播。与脱脚病（鼠痘的病原体）的比较表明，TATV在接种部位和其引发的免疫反应方面表现不同。
