West Nile Virus infection in the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus): A model for West Nile encephalitis

This report describes a new hamster model for West Nile (WN) virus encephal itis. Following intraperitoneal inoculation of a New York isolate of WN vir us, hamsters had moderate viremia of 5 to 6 days in duration, followed by t he development of humoral antibodies. Encephalitic symptoms began 6 days af ter infection; about half the animals died between the seventh and 14th day s. The appearance of viral antigen in the brain and neuronal degeneration a lso began on the sixth day. WN virus was cultured from the brains of conval escent hamsters up to 53 days after initial infection, suggesting that pers istent virus infection occurs. Hamsters offer an inexpensive model for stud ying the pathogenesis and treatment of WN virus encephalitis.