FIG. 6.

M141RKO pathogenesis study results. Three rabbits were infected with the vMyx141KO virus, three were infected with the vMyx141rev virus, and four were infected with the vMyxgfp control virus. The rabbits were each infected with 2,000 PFU intradermally, with 1,000 PFU injected into each hind leg. Rabbits were monitored daily for the clinical symptoms associated with myxomatosis. The clinical score was derived from well-defined values as described in the text. Specific symptoms such as severe orthopnea, mouth breathing, cyanosis, and no food/water intake for >24 h or a threshold score of 18 required the rabbits to be euthanized for ethical reasons. Although we only included data on the graph to day 9 postinfection, scores for animals infected with vMyx141KO continued to decrease until there was a complete recovery.