# Bourbon virus: Therapy development and Serology

> **NIH NIH R21** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $236,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Bourbon virus is the newest member of a growing group of tick-borne viruses. It was discovered in 2014 in the
blood of a 50-year old farmer from Bourbon County, Kansas. He died several weeks later due to multiorgan
failure and cardiopulmonary arrest. Additional human cases of Bourbon virus have been identified since then
including the most recent fatal case in our hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. Currently, there are no vaccines or
therapeutics against this virus.
Ticks are important arthropod vectors for spreading viruses from wildlife to humans. To date, at least 40 known
viral species are transmitted by ticks, and some of them are a significant threat to human health. Such viruses
include tick-borne encephalitis virus, severe fever and thrombocytopenia syndrome virus, and Bourbon virus.
Several of these viruses are found predominantly in ticks in the Midwest region of the United States. Apart from
the discovery of these viruses, there are no concerted efforts to study these viruses, develop molecular and
serological assays, animal models, and most importantly generate therapies that can protect and treat individuals
infected with these potentially deadly tick-borne viruses. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop animal models,
and validate antiviral therapies that can treat and cure Bourbon virus infected patients. We show for the first time
that Bourbon virus replication is inhibited by favipiravir, a broad-spectrum antiviral drug that is approved for
clinical use in Japan. Using a new mouse model for Bourbon virus, we subsequently show that favipiravir can
prevent fatal disease in vivo. This proposal is aimed at validating the pre-clinical efficacy of favipiravir and related
RNA-dependent RNA polymerase inhibitors against Bourbon virus in vivo and establish the seroprevalence of
Bourbon virus using high-throughput serological assays and reporter viruses. Successful completion of the
proposed studies will lead to the identification of a potential therapy for Bourbon virus and characterization of the
disease burden in humans.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9946482
- **Project number:** 1R21AI151170-01
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Adrianus CM Boon
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $236,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-03-13 → 2022-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9946482

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9946482, Bourbon virus: Therapy development and Serology (1R21AI151170-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9946482. Licensed CC0.

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