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Virologie

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Lassa fever: immune responses and pathogenesis Volume 16, issue 6, Novembre-Décembre 2012

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Authors
Institut Pasteur, unité de biologie des infections virales émergentes, 21, avenue Tony-Garnier, 69365 Lyon, France, Laboratoire P4 Jean-Mérieux - Inserm, 21, avenue Tony-Garnier, 69365 Lyon, France

Lassa fever is a hemorrhagic fever endemic to West Africa and caused by Lassa virus, an Old-World arenavirus. It may be fatal, but most patients recover from acute disease and some experience asymptomatic infection. The immune mechanisms associated with these different outcomes have not yet been fully elucidated, but considerable progress has recently been made, through the use of in vitro human models and non-human primates, the only relevant animal model that mimics the pathophysiology and immune responses induced in patients. We discuss here the roles of the various components of the innate and adaptive immune systems in Lassa virus infection and in the control of viral replication and pathogenesis.