Читать книгу Basic Virology - Martinez J. Hewlett - Страница 53

Guinea pigs are favored experimental animals for the study of infection and disease because they are readily infected with many human pathogens. They are an important model for the study of HSV‐2, which cannot be studied effectively in the murine and rabbit models just described.

Guinea pigs can be infected vaginally with inoculation of virus, and following a localized infection, latency can be established. As occurs in the murine and rabbit models, virus or viral DNA can be recovered from latently infected neurons (those enervating the vaginal area in this case). As in rabbits, latent infection in guinea pigs will spontaneously reactivate, and periodic examination can be used to measure reactivation rates. Unlike rabbits, however, guinea pig reactivation cannot be induced. Also, HSV‐2 reactivates much more frequently than does HSV‐1 in the guinea pig model; therefore, this model may be of some value in establishing the subtle genetic differences between these two types of viruses that manifest as a differential tropism for mucosa.