A LITERATURE REVIEW OF THE HISTOLOGY OF RIFT VALLEY FEVER VIRUS NEUROLOGICAL DISEASE COMPARING RODENT AND NHP MODELS TO HUMAN DISEASE

Abstract: Rift Valley Fever Virus (RVFV) is an arbovirus most commonly spread through mosquitos or infected animal tissues, and can infect a wide range of animals with the biggest impact being on ruminants and humans. RVFV is a major concern for possible spread into the America’s as well as it being used as a biological weapon due to the high mortality rate associated with aerosolizing the virus. This review will focus on the neurological disease seen in the developed animal models and the histology being used in the research of RVFV. The first model developed was the mouse model and is most useful because of the developed knockouts in mice. Certain mice can consistently produce neurological disease through intranasal infection, and histological examination of brain tissue shows widespread encephalitis. Rat models are also being used to a lesser extent but have some benefits of consistently reproducing neurological disease and studying the genetic aspects of RVFV. Rat models reproduce meningoencephalitis which more closely mimics human neurological disease. Non-human primate (NHP) models are most applicable to human disease and African green monkey (AGM) as well as marmosets have been shown to be susceptible to RVFV infection.