Inhibition of caspase-1 prolongs survival of mice infected with rabies virus

Rabies virus infects almost all mammals resulting in lethal disease. To date there is no treatment available for symptomatic rabies and there is an urgent need to develop treatment strategies that would prolong survival, thereby providing a window of opportunity for the host to mount a protective immune response. We hypothesized that both virus and excessive immune response contribute to disease and that interfering with both is necessary to prevent lethal disease. Here, we have inhibited the pro-inflammatory response associated with pyroptosis and showed that inhibition of CASP-1 had a beneficial effect on survival time. Our results confirm that some inflammatory responses may be involved in the pathogenesis of severe disease and the results suggest that effective intervention includes inhibition of virus and host response

Combination drug treatment prolongs survival of experimentally infected mice with silver-haired bat rabies virus

Rabies is a lethal disease in humans and animals, killing approximately 60,000 people every year. Currently, there is no treatment available, except post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) that can be administered whenever exposure to a rabid animal took place. Here we describe the beneficial effects of a combination treatment initiated a

Application of real - time PCR for evaluation of distribution of equine herpesvirus type 1 in tissues of aborted fetuses

A highly sensitive and specific real-time PCR assay was used for detection and quantitation of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) in the different internal organs of aborted fetuses. Tissue samples from 23 aborted fetuses submitted to the Department of Virology of the National Veterinary Research Institute in Pulawy between 2012 and 2013 were used for testing. Total DNA was extracted using a phenol-chloroform-isoamyl alcohol standard protocol. A real-time PCR with forward and reverse primers encompassing a highly conserved region encoding viral glycoprotein B was adapted for diagnosis of EHV-1 infection. The detection limit of the assay was shown to be 6.0x100 of viral DNA copies and the obtained standard curve exhibited a linear range from 100 to 107 molecules. Sixteen out of twenty three aborted fetuses (69.5%) were positive for EHV-1 in real- time PCR. The highest EHV-1 DNA load was obtained for liver (mean Ct value: 15.7) and lung (18.2) samples, while the lowest was in the thymus (29.6) and placenta (28.4)

Variability of non-structural proteins of equine arteritis virus during persistent infection of the stallion

The genetic stability of ORF1a encoding non-structural proteins nsp1, nsp2, nsp3 and nsp4 of equine arteritis virus (EAV) has been analysed for nearly seven years in a persistently infected stallion of the Malopolska breed. Between November 2004 and June 2011, 11 semen samples were collected. Viral RNA extracted from semen of this carrier stallion was amplified, sequenced and compared with the sequences of the other known strains of EAV. Sequence analysis of ORF1a showed 84 synonymous and 16 non-synonymous mutations. The most variable part of ORF1a was the region encoding nsp2 protein with 13 non-synonymous substitutions. The degree of amino acid identity between isolates ranged from 98.91 to 100%. Only single non-synonymous mutations were detected in nsp1 (one substitution) and nsp4 (two substitutions). The most stable was nsp3 in which no amino acid substitutions were observed during the whole period of observation