# An optimized mouse model of Bordetella pertussis infection

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA · 2020 · $188,750

## Abstract

SUMMARY
Bordetella pertussis causes one of the most important human diseases, Pertussis or Whooping
Cough, infecting tens of millions and killing hundreds of thousands of children annually. Vaccines
available in most industrialized countries protect reasonably well against death and the most
severe forms of disease, but they are less effective in preventing colonization and transmission.
Mice are the most widely-used experimental system for studying the mechanistic details of
B. pertussis pathogenesis, and have been used for the identification of all known B. pertussis
virulence factors and host immune components involved in clearance of the infection. However,
B. pertussis colonizes mice only after inoculation with an unnaturally high dose of at least 104
bacteria, which does not reflect natural infection. Such high doses interfere with the study of the
critical aspects we need to understand to stop the ongoing transmission: the ability to efficiently
colonize of a new host, to proliferate and to spread within the respiratory tract and to transmit
between hosts. Excitingly, our preliminary data reveal that we can overcome this obstacle. Pre-
application of antibiotics allows B. pertussis to colonize with very small inocula, and changes host-
pathogen interactions to better reflect human infections. Based on these preliminary data, we will
develop an efficient mouse model of B. pertussis infection that replicates the aspects of naturally
occurring infection that are critical to understanding its ongoing transmission, including a low dose
inoculum, progression of the infection from the nasal cavity to the lower respiratory tract,
persistence, and transmission amongst co-housed mice. The low dose mouse model will allow to
unravel the mechanisms involved in B. pertussis' efficient colonization and transmission and thus
to tackle its ongoing reemergence.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9825514
- **Project number:** 5R21AI142678-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Eric T Harvill
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $188,750
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-11-20 → 2020-10-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9825514

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9825514, An optimized mouse model of Bordetella pertussis infection (5R21AI142678-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9825514. Licensed CC0.

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