Development of a Nipah model of disease

Nipah virus (NiV) is a zoonotic pathogen, with the animal reservoir primarily being fruit bats. Outbreaks occur almost annually in parts of Asia, with human infection associated with encephalitis which can result in death. Due to regular spillover events into humans and ability for person-to-person transmission, NiV poses a public health risk. As such, the UK Vaccine Network (UKVN) list it as a priority pathogen for investment in vaccine development and it is on the list of priority diseases for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). This has helped to accelerate the development of vaccines against NiV.Whilst immunogenicity studies can help to ascertain induced immunity, unfortunately no correlate of protection exists for NiV. Therefore, there is no current substitute for assessing vaccine efficacy without the use of animal models. With NiV being a hazard group 4 pathogen, work with live virus is restricted to containment level 4 facilities such as those available at UKHSA, Porton.

This proposal is to establish the hamster model of NiV within the UK. This model will provide a useful resource for the preclinical advancement of vaccines, including the prioritisation of vaccine candidates and optimisation of immunisation schedules. Given the recent substantial investment to NiV vaccines, there is a strong pipeline of candidates being developed for which this model can be utilised to evaluate efficacy.