Protection against mucosal infection as measured by plaque assay of vaginal swabs.

<p>Animals described in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0046714#pone-0046714-g004" target="_blank">Fig. 4</a> were swabbed intravaginally on day 2 post-challenge and the shed virus titers determined by plaque assay. (A) Shedding for animals challenged with 7.2×10⁵ PFU (450 LD₅₀) of wildtype HSV-2 (one symbol per mouse). ACAM529 significantly reduced viral shedding compared to gD, and only ACAM529 is significantly better than PBS (* P<0.05; one way ANOVA). (B) Virus shedding is plotted as a function of the challenge dose. ACAM529 significantly reduces virus shedding compared to mock-immunized (PBS) animals at all doses tested while gD affords significant protection at the lowest challenge dose (* P<0.05 compared to PBS; one way ANOVA). (C) Protection from peak virus shedding. The percentage of mice for which shedding was below the detection limit on day 2 is plotted as a function of decreasing challenge dose. Overall, more animals were protected by ACAM529 than gD (P = 0.0033; Fisher's exact test).