Fig 10. Shedding of MPXV by the sentinel African rope squirrel, RS14, following mock intranasal infection.

The animal was housed in its own cage in the same room as the study animals, and was sampled and imaged following the same schedule as the other study animals. Swabs were taken from oral, ocular, nasal and rectal mucosa then tested by TCID₅₀ assay to determine the concentration of virus shed in PFU/mL. Titer for all swabs increased from day 13 pi (oral) or day 15 pi (nasal, ocular, rectal) until day 18 pi, when the animal was euthanized. Oral shedding was the highest, with a final titer greater than 1.3 x 10⁸ PFU/mL on day 18 pi.