Currently, there is no well characterized animal model of aerosol induced Lassa Fever (LF). This project will produce an aerosol induced Non-Human Primate (NHP) model of LF that faithfully reproduces human LF, which is a requirement of the US FDA Animal
Rule. Assays will be established to evaluate biomarkers in LASV-infected humans and NHPs, in order to demonstrate the performance of the NHP model. The goal of the proposed project is to develop an NHP model of aerosol induced LF that can be used
to assess the efficacy of candidate Medical Countermeasures (MCM). This project aims to compare the hallmark features of disease observed in NHPs exposed to LASV with human LF.