Virology Commons^™

Respiratory Insufficiency Correlated Strongly With Mortality Of Rodents Infected With West Nile Virus, John D. Morrey, V Siddharthan, H Wang, J O. Hall

John D. Morrey

West Nile virus (WNV) disease can be fatal for high-risk patients. Since WNV or its antigens have been identified in multiple anatomical locations of the central nervous system of persons or rodent models, one cannot know where to investigate the actual mechanism of mortality without careful studies in animal models. In this study, depressed respiratory functions measured by plethysmography correlated strongly with mortality. This respiratory distress, as well as reduced oxygen saturation, occurred beginning as early as 4 days before mortality. Affected medullary respiratory control cells may have contributed to the animals' respiratory insufficiency, because WNV antigen staining was present …