Infectious Disease Models

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) can cause symptoms ranging from severe diarrhea to life-threatening inflammations of the colon. Although the infection can usually be controlled with antibiotics, virulent strains of C. difficile are now appearing that resist treatment with common medications.

RSV infection is the major cause of severe respiratory illness in infants and young children, as well as immune compromised individuals and the elderly. It causes a range of illnesses varying from mild infection to life-threatening bronchiolitis and respiratory failure. Rodent models for testing efficacy and safety in preclinical studies provide a critical component to the development of anti-RSV antibodies, small molecules and vaccines.

Human CMV (hCMV) is a major cause of birth defects in industrialized nations. While usually hCMV infection does not cause major illness in healthy people, it can be life-threatening for immunocompromised persons. Although CMV infection is species-specific, human and mouse CMV share much similarity at the genetic and nucleotide level. Moreover, the mouse CMV (mCMV) infection model shares many characteristics with human disease and can therefore be used to mimic human CMV infection in animals.