Pathogenicity and transmissibility of Monkeypox virus in dormice

Abstract

The global spread of the monkeypox virus (MPXV) poses a significant challenge to public health, yet reliable and consistent animal models for evaluating MPXV remain limited, which to some extent restricts the advancement of treatment strategies and transmission-blocking technologies. As natural hosts, African dormice (Graphiurus spp.) represent promising candidates. However, the biological characteristics of MPXV in dormice remain largely unexplored. This study systematically evaluated the pathogenicity and transmissibility of MPXV in dormice. Experimental results demonstrated that dormice are highly susceptible to MPXV infection. Following intranasal inoculation, MPXV induced significant weight loss, lethal infections, and multi-organ pathological damage, with robust viral replication in respiratory and liver tissues. Notably, MPXV can efficiently transmit among dormice through direct contact, with one-third of the contact-exposed dormice shedding infectious viruses and two-thirds exhibiting seropositivity. In addition, one-third of the airborne exposure dormice show seropositivity, yet no infectious viruses were detected in their respiratory tissues, indicating that the airborne transmissibility of MPXV among dormice is relatively restricted. Furthermore, it was observed that infected dormice continuously released large quantities of virus-laden aerosols, with emissions peaking on 12 dpi (3.78{+/-}1.01x106 copies/dormouse/hour of respiration). Particle size analysis revealed that the viral copies in [≥]7 m coarse particles accounted for >90.9% of exhaled viral aerosols during peak shedding (8-14 dpi). These findings demonstrate that the African dormice serve as an effective animal model for assessing MPXV infection, pathogenicity, and transmission dynamics. Simultaneously, enhanced monitoring of wild dormouse populations is critical due to their potential role in MPXV transmission chains.