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Rift Valley fever virus induces fetal demise through direct placental infection
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) infections in pregnant livestock are associated with high rates of fetal demise and have been linked to miscarriage in pregnant women. To address how acute RVFV infection during pregnancy causes detrimental effects on the fetus, we developed an immunocompetent pregnant rodent model of RVFV infection. We found that pregnant rats were more susceptible to RVFV-induced death than their non-pregnant counterparts and that RVFV infection resulted in intrauterine fetal death and severe congenital abnormalities, even in pups from infected asymptomatic pregnant rats. Virus distribution in infected dams was widespread, with a previously unrecognized preference for infection, replication, and tissue damage in the placenta. In human mid-gestation placental tissue, RVFV directly infected placental chorionic villi, with replication detected in the outermost syncytial layer. Our work identifies direct placental infection by RVFV as a mechanism for vertical transmission and points to the teratogenic potential of this virus in humans. This is the first time vertical transmission of RVFV has been shown in species other than livestock. This study highlights the potential impact of a future epidemic of this emerging mosquito-borne virus.
- Subjects :
- 2. Zero hunger
0303 health sciences
Fetus
Pregnancy
Transmission (medicine)
030231 tropical medicine
Biology
medicine.disease
Virology
Asymptomatic
Virus
3. Good health
Miscarriage
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
medicine.anatomical_structure
Placenta
medicine
Chorionic villi
medicine.symptom
reproductive and urinary physiology
030304 developmental biology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....3b3090410879aa34521420fa71d7b714
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1101/383745