Fig. 3: Intradermal MPXV clade IIa infection induces a more severe clinical disease than intradermal MPXV clade IIb infection.
Animals were infected with a lower dose of 2 × 104 PFU or a higher dose of 2 × 105 PFU of MPXV clade IIa (2 × 104: n = 8; 2 × 105: n = 8) or IIb (2 × 104: n = 8; 2 × 105: n = 7) for 12 days using tail skin scarification. PBS served as controls (n = 2 each). During the infection period, daily monitoring of (a, b) body weight and (c, d) survival was performed. Additionally, clinical scores were used to assess (e, f) general conditions, and (g, h) the progression of mpox-specific skin lesions. The manifestation of skin lesions at different body sites were observed for 2x105 PFU MPXV clade IIa (i) and clade IIb (j) infected animals. Error bars show the median ± 95% confidence interval (CI). The area under the curve (AUC) was calculated and grouped AUCs were further used to analyse significant differences between groups over the entire infection period. P values were determined by Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn´s multiple comparisons test (b, c, d, g, h) and two-tailed Mann-Whitney test (a, e, f). *p = 0.0444 PBS versus IIa in a. *p = 0.0379 PBS versus IIb in b. *p = 0.0444 PBS versus IIa, *p = 0.0222 PBS versus IIb in e. *p = 0.0444 PBS versus IIa, *p = 0.0281 IIa versus IIb in f. *p = 0.0176 PBS versus IIb in g. ns = not significant. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
