Nipah Virus Bangladesh Infection Elicits Organ-Specific Innate and Inflammatory Responses in the Marmoset Model.

This article focuses on evaluating the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) as a novel nonhuman primate (NHP) model for studying Nipah virus Bangladesh strain (NiVB) infection under biosafety level 4 conditions. Four marmosets infected via intranasal and intratracheal routes developed fatal disease exhibiting pulmonary edema, hemorrhagic hepatitis, lymphadenopathy, and in one case, neurological signs and cardiomyopathy, closely mirroring human NiVB pathology. Viral RNA and infectious virus were detected across multiple tissues including the central nervous system, and RNA sequencing revealed tissue-specific innate immune responses, with a unique brainstem transcriptome in the neurologically affected animal. The study highlights the marmoset's suitability for NiVB research due to its small size, ease of handling, and ability to recapitulate key clinical and pathological features of human infection, suggesting its potential as a complementary model to existing NHP systems.