title: Pathobiology of hepatitis E: lessons learned from primate models.
abstract: Like the other hepatitis viruses, hepatitis E virus (HEV) has been difficult to study because of limitations in cell culture systems and small animal models. Much of what we know has come from epidemiological studies in developing countries and, more recently, in industrialized countries. However, the epidemiology is very different in these two settings: hepatitis E in developing countries is epidemic as well as sporadic, principally water-borne, most likely to cause disease in older children and young adults and relatively severe, especially in pregnant women; in industrialized countries the disease is sporadic, principally food-borne, most common in the elderly and probably associated with mostly inapparent infections. These differences are believed to be genotypically determined. To examine the biological parameters of hepatitis E, we have studied HEV infections in nonhuman primates, which are surrogates of man. Infections with HEV genotypes 1-3 were compared in rhesus and cynomolgus macaques and chimpanzees. In general, the biological characteristics of the different HEV genotypes mirrored their epidemiological characteristics.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health , Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Purcell
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health , Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Ronald E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Engle
authors.affiliation: Rancho Los Amigos Hospital , Downey, CA 90242, USA.
authors.forename: Sugantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Govindarajan
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health , Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Herbert
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health , Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Marisa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: St Claire
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health , Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: William R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Elkins
authors.affiliation: Bioqual, Inc. , Rockville, MD 20850, USA.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.affiliation: Bioqual, Inc. , Rockville, MD 20850, USA.
authors.forename: Charlene
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shaver
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health , Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beauregard
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health , Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Swerczek
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health , Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Suzanne U
authors.initials: SU
authors.lastname: Emerson
keywords: HEV; genotypes; host range; nonhuman primates; virulence