Table 4.

Prairie dogs used in the study of MPXV

Animal specie	Age	Viral strain	Route of infection/dose	Major findings	Reference
Prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus)	3-year-old	MPXV ROC-2003-358	Intranasal/105 p.f.u/mL	Infected and untreated group: facial swelling, nasal discharge, nasal crust, bloody nose, inappetence, weight loss, pustular lesions, petechial rash, mouth breathing. The treated groups: prophylaxis (0) and post-infection (3) did not present symptoms of the disease, whereas the therapeutic group (after the appearance of lesions) presented facial swelling, nasal discharge, nasal crust, bloody nose, lack of appetite, weight loss, pustular lesions	(Smith et al.33)
	Adults	MPXV-USA-2003-044	Intraperitoneal/10x1,5 p.f.u/mL and intranasal/10x6.1 p.f.u/mL	Animals infected by the intraperitoneal route died approximately 8–11 days after infection and no mucosal or cutaneous lesions were observed. Via the intranasal route, 60% died similarly to the animals in the intraperitoneal group, and the survivors had vesicular lesions on the lips and tongue, along with nasal congestion and mucopurulent nasal secretion, but recovered	(Xiao et al.82)
	3-year-old	MPXV-USA-2003-044 and MPXV-ROC-2003-358	Intranasal/104, 105, and 106 p.f.u/mL	Clinical signs were dose dependent, ranging from inappetence, facial edema, forced breathing, nasal pus, crusty nose, nasal blood, swollen paws, crusted lesion on the face, and death	(Hutson et al.83)
	2-year-old	MPXV-USA-2003-044 and MPXV-ROC-2003-358	Intranasal and intradermal by scarification/104,5 p.f.u/mL	The animals presented skin lesions on the head, limbs, and trunk. Animals infected with the Congo strain showed a greater increase in temperature and a tendency to lose weight compared with the African strain	(Hutson et al.84)
	2- to 4- year-old	MPXV-USA-2003-044	Intranasal/8,8x105 p.f.u/mL	It was observed that animals from all groups began to show clinical signs about 8 days after infection; among these signs are inappetence, decreased activity with recumbency and reluctance to move, as well as skin lesions; in addition, some animals needed to be euthanized due to clinical condition. The survival rate of the animals varied according to the time of initiation of treatment; the earlier it was started, the greater the effectiveness	(Hutson et al.85)
	2-year-old	MPXV-USA-2003-044	Intranasal/5x104 p.f.u/mL (actual dose confirmed by 5.9x104 p.f.u/10 μL of WT and 4.3x104 p.f.u/10 μL of luc+ MPXV)	West African (WA) MPXV can be visualized using in vivo imaging in the nose, lymph nodes, intestines, heart, lung, kidneys, and liver at day 6 post-infection. On day 9, lesions became visible on the skin and, in some cases, the spleen. After day 9 post-infection, the luminescent signal representing replication either increased, indicating a progression to what would be a fatal infection, or decreased as the infection resolved	(Weiner et al.86)
	20-month-old	MPXV-USA-2003-044	Intranasal/9x103 p.f.u/mL	Sharing contaminated bedding led to all healthy animals developing the disease. In the group in which healthy animals were in contact with the challenged animal, clinical signs of the disease also developed. All four animals that were experimentally challenged recovered from the infection. The euthanized animals had severe diarrhea and countless skin lesions	(Hutson et al.87)
	2-3-years-old	MPXV-USA-2003-044 and MPXV-ROC-2003-358	Intranasal/6x103 and 5x103 p.f.u/mL	Animals challenged with the West African strain developed skin lesions, crusty noses, dehydration, and inappetence. In the group challenged with Congo Basin, all animals showed inappetence, dehydration, nasal congestion, pus/blood in the mouth, breathing difficulties, facial edema, pus in the genitals, and swollen paws, in addition to skin lesions	(Hutson et al.88)
	10-month-old	MPXV-USA-2003-044 and MPXV-ROC-2003-358	Intranasal/8x103 p.f.u/mL	Animals infected with the Congo Basin (CB) strain had virus recovered from the nasal mucosa, oropharyngeal lymph nodes, and spleen in animals challenged with on day 4 and in animals challenged with the West African (WA) strain on day 6. For In both groups, primary viremia was observed from days 6–9 to day 17. The CB strain spread faster and accumulated at higher levels, causing greater morbidity in the animals when compared with the WA strain. The viral antigen was abundant in all organs tested, except for the brain. Splenocytes were labeled positive for apoptosis more often than hepatocytes in both groups	(Hutson et al.89)
	Adults	MPXV-ROC-2003-358	Intranasal/4,3x106 and 2,25x104 p.f.u/mL	The incubation period presented by prairie dogs were similar to that observed in humans with systemic orthopoxvirus infection. Regarding the clinical signs observed in the animals, the occurrence of inappetence and weight loss, as well as cutaneous and mucosal lesions, varying in degree of intensity, stands out	(Shannon Keckler et al.90)

Not reported; p.f.u: plaque formation unit; mL: milliliter; MPXV: monkeypox virus.