Human norovirus animal model essential for vaccine development

Human noroviruses are the most common cause of acute gastroenteritis and represent an incredibly high burden on the healthcare sector. Currently no vaccines or drugs exist to prevent or treat the disease. This is in part due to a lack of animal models. Here, Dr Lijuan Yuan and the team at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University developed and validated gnotobiotic pigs as an animal model for the human norovirus GII.4/2003 Cin-2. Determining dose-response relationships as well as the median infectious dose, by using different statistical approaches for this virus, means we are one step closer on the path to vaccine development.