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Eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) have shown high West Nile virus (WNV) seroprevalence, and WNV infection has been suggested as a cause of morbidity and mortality in this species. We experimentally infected nine eastern gray squirrels with WNV to determine the clinical effects of infection and to assess their potential role as amplifying hosts. We observed no morbidity or mortality attributable to WNV infection, but lesions were apparent in several organs. We detected mean viremias of 105.1 and 104.8 plaque-forming units (PFU)/mL on days 3 and 4 post-infection (DPI) and estimated that ~2.1% of Culex pipiens feeding on squirrels during 1–5 DPI would become infectious. Thus, S. carolinensis are unlikely to be important amplifying hosts and may instead dampen the intensity of transmission in most host communities. The low viremias and lack of mortality observed in S. carolinensis suggest that they may be useful as sentinels of spillover from the enzootic amplification cycle.
Received March 10, 2008. Accepted for publication June 2, 2008.
Acknowledgments: We thank K. Platt, J. Root, and the staff at the Wildlife Center of Virginia for kindly sharing their restraint and husbandry protocols with us. We also thank M. Behr for invaluable assistance with tissue processing and microscopic pathology. We are grateful to R. Waniewski, F. Blaisdell, K. Bernard, A. Jones, R. Smith, and the animal care staff at the Wadsworth Center for advice and logistical support. Two anonymous reviewers provided comments that improved an original version of this manuscript.
Financial support: This work was funded by NIAID contract #NO1-AI-25490, NSF grant EF-0622391 as part of the joint NSF-NIH Ecology of Infectious Disease program, a Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Faculty Fellowship, and the Whitley Fund for Nature.
* Address correspondence to Andrés Gómez, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, 1200 Amsterdam Avenue, MC 5557, New York, NY 10027. E-mail: ag2112{at}caa.columbia.edu
Authors’ addresses: Andrés Gómez, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, 1200 Amsterdam Avenue, MC 5557, New York, NY 10027, Tel: 212-854-9987, E-mail: ag2112{at}caa.columbia.edu Laura D. Kramer, Alan P. Dupuis II, Lauren J. Davis, and Matthew J. Jones, Griffin Laboratory, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, 5668 State Farm Road, Guilderland, NY 12084, Tel: 518 869-4500, E-mails: ldk02{at}health.state.ny.us, apd05{at}health.state.ny.us, ljd03{at}health.state.ny.us, and mjj05{at}health.state.ny.us. A. Marm Kilpatrick, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, A308 Earth and Marine Sciences, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, Tel: 845 596 7474, E-mail: marm{at}biology.ucsc.edu. Peter Daszak, The Consortium for Conservation Medicine, 460 West 34th Street, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10001, Tel: 212-380-4473, E-mail: daszak{at}conservationmedicine.org. A. Alonso Aguirre, Wildlife Trust, 460 West 34th Street, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10001, Tel: 212-380-4460, E-mail: aguirre{at}wildlifetrust.org.
Reprint requests: Andrés Gómez, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, 1200 Amsterdam Avenue, MC 5557, New York, NY 10027, Tel: 212-854-9987, E-mail: ag2112{at}caa.columbia.edu.
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