SIV/SHIV-Zika co-infection does not alter disease pathogenesis in adult non-pregnant rhesus macaque model.

• Main Authors: Mehdi R M Bidokhti, Debashis Dutta, Lepakshe S V Madduri, Shawna M Woollard, Robert Norgren, Luis Giavedoni, Siddappa N Byrareddy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2018-10-01
• Series: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Online Access: http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC6201872?pdf=render
• ISSN: 1935-2727; 1935-2735

Due to the large geographical overlap of populations exposed to Zika virus (ZIKV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), understanding the disease pathogenesis of co-infection is urgently needed. This warrants the development of an animal model for HIV-ZIKV co-infection. In this study, we used adult non-pregnant macaques that were chronically infected with simian immunodeficiency virus/chimeric simian human immunodeficiency virus (SIV/SHIV) and then inoculated with ZIKV. Plasma viral loads of both SIV/SHIV and ZIKV co-infected animals revealed no significant changes as compared to animals that were infected with ZIKV alone or as compared to SIV/SHIV infected animals prior to ZIKV inoculation. ZIKV tissue clearance of co-infected animals was similar to animals that were infected with ZIKV alone. Furthermore, in co-infected macaques, there was no statistically significant difference in plasma cytokines/chemokines levels as compared to prior to ZIKV inoculation. Collectively, these findings suggest that co-infection may not alter disease pathogenesis, thus warranting larger HIV-ZIKV epidemiological studies in order to validate these findings.