Pathogenic Differences between Nipah Virus Bangladesh and Malaysia Strains in Primates: Implications for Antibody Therapy

Nipah virus (NiV) is a paramyxovirus that causes severe disease in humans and animals. There are two distinct strains of NiV, Malaysia (NiVM) and Bangladesh (NiVB). Differences in transmission patterns and mortality rates suggest that NiVB may be more pathogenic than NiVM. To investigate pathogenic differences between strains, 4 African green monkeys (AGM) were exposed to NiVM and 4 AGMs were exposed to NiVB. While NiVB was uniformly lethal, only 50% of NiVM-infected animals succumbed to infection. Histopathology of lungs and spleens from NiVB-infected AGMs was significantly more severe than NiVM-infected animals. Importantly, a second study utilizing 11 AGMs showed that the therapeutic window for human monoclonal antibody m102.4, previously shown to rescue AGMs from NiVM infection, was much shorter in NiVB-infected AGMs. Together, these data show that NiVB is more pathogenic in AGMs under identical experimental conditions and suggests that postexposure treatments may need to be NiV strain specific for optimal efficacy.