Ferrets as a model for tuberculosis transmission
Even with the COVID-19 pandemic, tuberculosis remains a leading cause of human death due to a single infectious agent. Until successfully treated, infected individuals may continue to transmit Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli to contacts. As with other respiratory pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2, mo...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2022.873416/full |
| _version_ | 1828151717396480000 |
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| author | Tuhina Gupta Naveen Somanna Thomas Rowe Thomas Rowe Monica LaGatta Shelly Helms Simon Odera Owino Tomislav Jelesijevic Stephen Harvey Wayne Jacobs Thomas Voss Kaori Sakamoto Cheryl Day Christopher Whalen Russell Karls Biao He S. Mark Tompkins Abhijeet Bakre Ted Ross Frederick D. Quinn |
| author_facet | Tuhina Gupta Naveen Somanna Thomas Rowe Thomas Rowe Monica LaGatta Shelly Helms Simon Odera Owino Tomislav Jelesijevic Stephen Harvey Wayne Jacobs Thomas Voss Kaori Sakamoto Cheryl Day Christopher Whalen Russell Karls Biao He S. Mark Tompkins Abhijeet Bakre Ted Ross Frederick D. Quinn |
| author_sort | Tuhina Gupta |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Even with the COVID-19 pandemic, tuberculosis remains a leading cause of human death due to a single infectious agent. Until successfully treated, infected individuals may continue to transmit Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli to contacts. As with other respiratory pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2, modeling the process of person-to-person transmission will inform efforts to develop vaccines and therapies that specifically impede disease transmission. The ferret (Mustela furo), a relatively inexpensive, small animal has been successfully employed to model transmissibility, pathogenicity, and tropism of influenza and other respiratory disease agents. Ferrets can become naturally infected with Mycobacterium bovis and are closely related to badgers, well known in Great Britain and elsewhere as a natural transmission vehicle for bovine tuberculosis. Herein, we report results of a study demonstrating that within 7 weeks of intratracheal infection with a high dose (>5 x 103 CFU) of M. tuberculosis bacilli, ferrets develop clinical signs and pathological features similar to acute disease reported in larger animals, and ferrets infected with very-high doses (>5 x 104 CFU) develop severe signs within two to four weeks, with loss of body weight as high as 30%. Natural transmission of this pathogen was also examined. Acutely-infected ferrets transmitted M. tuberculosis bacilli to co-housed naïve sentinels; most of the sentinels tested positive for M. tuberculosis in nasal washes, while several developed variable disease symptomologies similar to those reported for humans exposed to an active tuberculosis patient in a closed setting. Transmission was more efficient when the transmitting animal had a well-established acute infection. The findings support further assessment of this model system for tuberculosis transmission including the testing of prevention measures and vaccine efficacy. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T22:00:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bac15bebae5d430ea77a8a4d1409cd23 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2235-2988 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T22:00:38Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology |
| spelling | doaj.art-bac15bebae5d430ea77a8a4d1409cd232022-12-22T04:00:56ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology2235-29882022-08-011210.3389/fcimb.2022.873416873416Ferrets as a model for tuberculosis transmissionTuhina Gupta0Naveen Somanna1Thomas Rowe2Thomas Rowe3Monica LaGatta4Shelly Helms5Simon Odera Owino6Tomislav Jelesijevic7Stephen Harvey8Wayne Jacobs9Thomas Voss10Kaori Sakamoto11Cheryl Day12Christopher Whalen13Russell Karls14Biao He15S. Mark Tompkins16Abhijeet Bakre17Ted Ross18Frederick D. Quinn19Department of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United StatesMolecular Analytics R&D, GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines, Rockville, MD, United StatesDepartment of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United StatesInfluenza Division, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United StatesDepartment of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United StatesDepartment of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United StatesDepartment of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United StatesDepartment of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, United StatesAnimal Resources Program, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United StatesAnimal Resources Program, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United StatesMerck Research Laboratories, West Point, PA, United StatesDepartment of Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United StatesDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United StatesDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United StatesDepartment of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United StatesDepartment of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United StatesDepartment of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United StatesDepartment of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United StatesDepartment of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United StatesDepartment of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United StatesEven with the COVID-19 pandemic, tuberculosis remains a leading cause of human death due to a single infectious agent. Until successfully treated, infected individuals may continue to transmit Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli to contacts. As with other respiratory pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2, modeling the process of person-to-person transmission will inform efforts to develop vaccines and therapies that specifically impede disease transmission. The ferret (Mustela furo), a relatively inexpensive, small animal has been successfully employed to model transmissibility, pathogenicity, and tropism of influenza and other respiratory disease agents. Ferrets can become naturally infected with Mycobacterium bovis and are closely related to badgers, well known in Great Britain and elsewhere as a natural transmission vehicle for bovine tuberculosis. Herein, we report results of a study demonstrating that within 7 weeks of intratracheal infection with a high dose (>5 x 103 CFU) of M. tuberculosis bacilli, ferrets develop clinical signs and pathological features similar to acute disease reported in larger animals, and ferrets infected with very-high doses (>5 x 104 CFU) develop severe signs within two to four weeks, with loss of body weight as high as 30%. Natural transmission of this pathogen was also examined. Acutely-infected ferrets transmitted M. tuberculosis bacilli to co-housed naïve sentinels; most of the sentinels tested positive for M. tuberculosis in nasal washes, while several developed variable disease symptomologies similar to those reported for humans exposed to an active tuberculosis patient in a closed setting. Transmission was more efficient when the transmitting animal had a well-established acute infection. The findings support further assessment of this model system for tuberculosis transmission including the testing of prevention measures and vaccine efficacy.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2022.873416/fullmycobacteriumtuberculosisferrettransmissionanimal model |
| spellingShingle | Tuhina Gupta Naveen Somanna Thomas Rowe Thomas Rowe Monica LaGatta Shelly Helms Simon Odera Owino Tomislav Jelesijevic Stephen Harvey Wayne Jacobs Thomas Voss Kaori Sakamoto Cheryl Day Christopher Whalen Russell Karls Biao He S. Mark Tompkins Abhijeet Bakre Ted Ross Frederick D. Quinn Ferrets as a model for tuberculosis transmission Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology mycobacterium tuberculosis ferret transmission animal model |
| title | Ferrets as a model for tuberculosis transmission |
| title_full | Ferrets as a model for tuberculosis transmission |
| title_fullStr | Ferrets as a model for tuberculosis transmission |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ferrets as a model for tuberculosis transmission |
| title_short | Ferrets as a model for tuberculosis transmission |
| title_sort | ferrets as a model for tuberculosis transmission |
| topic | mycobacterium tuberculosis ferret transmission animal model |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2022.873416/full |
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