EXPERIMENTAL-INFECTION OF CHIMPANZEES WITH HEPATITIS-G VIRUS AND GENETIC-ANALYSIS OF THE VIRUS

Hepatitis G virus (HGV) was transmitted to 2 chimpanzees by inoculatio n with human plasma containing similar to 10(8) genome equivalents (GE ) of HGV, The infection was characterized by the late appearance (week s 10 and 11 after inoculation [pi]) of viremia that persisted througho ut the 120-week fellow-up, Serum HGV titer increased steadily until it plateaued at 10(6)-10(7) GE/mL, However, despite this relatively high titer, neither of the chimpanzees developed hepatitis, The sequence o f the viral genome, recovered from each chimpanzee at week 77 pi, diff ered from that of the inoculum by 5 nt (2 aa) and 27 nt (2 aa). Two mo re chimpanzees were inoculated with a first-passage plasma pool. The c himpanzee inoculated with similar to 10(6.7) GE of HGV had viremia at week 1 pi. However, the viral titer increased with the same kinetics a s observed in the first passage, The second chimpanzee inoculated with similar to 10(4.7) GE Of HGV had late appearance (week 7 pi) of virem ia.