RVFV is thought to be transmitted primarily by bites of infected mosquitoes, by direct contact with infected body fluids or through airborne transmission. It has been confirmed that exposure of mice to aerosols containing RVFV is able to induce infection [54] . Following inoculation into a dermal site, RVFV-hRLuc expression was seen in the draining lymph node which became the main site of replication early after infection while the virus was still weakly detected into the abdominal cavity. Later, virus spread and caused severe hepatitis within 69 h post-infection. Following intranasal inoculation, virus replicated in the lung where it caused pneumonia within 48 h post-infection. Its dissemination to the abdominal cavity was rapid and mice succumbed at 69 h postinfection. Thus, typical routes of exposure were associated with clear differences in the spatial and temporal progression of RVFV and caused delayed death compared with i.p. inoculation.