Virus Disease in Populations

and Individual Animals

The Nature of Virus Reservoirs

What are virus reservoirs?

Is the reservoir always a living

organism?

What traits/abilities must a virus

possess that uses a nonliving source
as its reservoir?

Examples of Living Reservoirs

Humans

Other vertebrate animals (dogs,

horses, squirrels, foxes, deer mice,
etc.)

Arthropods (mosquitoes, leaf hoppers,

asphids, plant hoppers, thrips)

Examples of Nonliving Reservoirs

Desk top
Contaminated clothing
Soil
Water
Fecal material
What is the ultimate source of a viral
pathogen in nature?

List some viruses that have a living

reservoir.

List some viruses that have a

nonliving reservoir.

What is a zoonosis?
What is a vector?
Is the vector always a living organism?
List some living vectors.
List some nonliving vectors.
List some viruses that use a living
vector.
List some viruses that use a nonliving
vector.

Even when the vector is living it can also

serve as a passive vector. The virus does
not replicate in the vector.
Arthropod vectors often mediate viral
zoonoses and serve in a mechanical and
passive manner.
Which is most efficient, a virus that
replicates in the arthropod that will serve
as the vector or one that does not replicate
in the arthropod?

Give some examples of viruses that do

not replicate in the arthropod vector.
Give some examples of viruses that
replicate in the arthropod vector.
When the virus replicates in the
arthropod vector, the arthropod vector
serves as a second reservoir, allows the
virus to amplify to a higher titer, and
increases the efficiency of spread to a
human host.

Viruses in Populations

In order for a virus to spread

effectively in a population:

There must be a sufficient # of people

who are not immune to the virus.
The virus must be able to replicate itself
in another reservoir population if it
induces protective immunity or it must
spread through the population in waves.

What happens if the majority of the

members of the population is immune
to a virus?

What is the result of herd immunity, if

the virus is able to continue to exist?

Figure 3.2 in small populations, the

rate of virus spread is limited by the
generation of herd immunity. The virus
becomes extinct or is reduced to low
numbers in the population.

What does the term the index case

mean?
What is a nosocomial infection?

In large populations, the rate of virus

spread must be greater than the
generation of herd immunity.
What is the best way to reduce human
to human spread of virus in a
population?
What is the best way to reduce
arthropod to human spread of a virus
in a population?

Factors Affecting the Control of

Viral Disease in Populations

The generation of lasting immunity

Effective vaccination programs
Influenza (Flu) virus variants arise by
genetic mixing of human and animal
strains
HIV remains associated with lymphatic
tissue in infected individuals even
when drugs eliminate virus replication.

Factors Affecting the Control of

Viral Disease in Populations, cont.

Herpesviruses establish latent

infections and reactivate at a later
date making an effective vaccine
difficult to generate.
Economic factors it costs a lot of
money to develop, produce, and
deploy a vaccine.

Factors Affecting the Control of

Viral Disease in Populations, cont.

Pharmaceutical corporations
interested in profit.

Lack of political will and insight

Animal Models to Study Viral

Pathogenesis

Why are animal models necessary for

the study of viral pathogenesis?
Kochs rules

The same pathogen must be able to be

cultured from every individual displaying
the symptoms of the disease in question.
The pathogen must be cultivated in pure
form.

The pathogen must be able to cause the disease

in question when inoculated into a suitable host.

It is unethical to inoculate a human host

with an agent suspected of causing serious
or life-threatening disease.
Examples of unethical studies:

Nazi Germany
The Tuskegee syphilis study
Studies in the US that used volunteer prisoners

Is it ever appropriate to use human

subjects to study a disease and its
therapy?
What are the conditions under which
it would be ethical to use human
subjects to study a disease and its
therapy?

Animal Models

Mouse models
Rabbit models
Guinea pig models

Reasons for Using Animal Models

Can gather a lot of information using

simple experiments, (i.e.
observations)

Ability of the virus to cause symptoms

Location of virus replication
Passage of the virus through the body
during various time periods post
infection

Limitations of Animal Studies

Cannot accurately reflect the course

of the disease in humans

Must have uniformity of animals in study

Amount of virus inoculated controlled
Site of inoculation controlled

Must be adapted to replicate

effectively in the test animal

Simple Experimental Methods

Dissection of various organs for gross

and microscopic observation
Measurement of virus levels in organs
thought to be the site of virus
replication
In situ hybridization to detect viral
RNA in tissue

Course Pox Infection in Mice

Rabbit Model for HSV

Mice cannot clinically reactivate HSV

Rabbits can spontaneously reactive
HSV; therefore, rabbits can be used
to study the physiological process of
reactivation.
The reactivation can also be induced
by iontrophoresis of epinephrine.
HSV-2 cannot be studied in mice nor
rabbits.

Guinea Pig Models

Used for the study of HSV-2

Infected vaginally HSV-2
Latent infections will spontaneously
reactivate.
Reactivation rates can be determined.
Reactivation cannot be induced.