Zika Virus Infection in Dexamethasone-immunosuppressed Mice Demonstrating Disseminated Infection with Multi-organ Involvement Including Orchitis Effectively Treated by Recombinant Type I Interferons

Chan, Jasper Fuk-Woo; Zhang, Anna Jinxia; Chan, Chris Chung-Sing; Yip, Cyril Chik-Yan; Mak, Winger Wing-Nga; Zhu, Houshun; Poon, Vincent Kwok-Man; Tee, Kah-Meng; Zhu, Zheng; Cai, Jian-Piao; Tsang, Jessica Oi-Ling; Chik, Kenn Ka-Heng; Yin, Feifei; Chan, Kwok-Hung; Kok, Kin-Hang; Jin, Dong-Yan; Au-Yeung, Rex Kwok-Him; Yuen, Kwok-Yung

World Health Oganization (PAHO/WHO), 2015; Sarmiento-Ospina et al., 2016; Arzuza-Ortega et al., 2016; Duijster et al., 2016) . Notably, patients with severe non-pregnancy-related complications of ZIKV often deteriorated suddenly after an initially mild disease phase as the viral load began to decrease (Cao-Lormeau et al., 2016; Mecharles et al., 2016; Sarmiento-Ospina et al., 2016) . This has led us to hypothesize that, like many other flavivirus infections, including yellow fever, dengue, and West Nile virus infection, the host immune response may also play a role in these ZIKV-associated complications, especially during the viral clearance phase by the host immune system (Quaresma et al., 2013; Screaton et al., 2015; Wang et al., 2003) . In this study, we characterized a novel and readily available mouse model for severe ZIKV infection which attempts to provide an alternative venue for studying the host immune response of and evaluating countermeasures for ZIKV infection. The findings in our study have important implications on the pathogenesis, potential complications, and treatment of ZIKV infection.