Serial passage of west-European sporadic non-A non-B hepatitis in rhesus monkeys by inoculation with fecal extracts.

An experimental model of sporadic non-A non-B hepatitis involving a Fab nonimmune binding activity in stools was established in the rhesus monkey. The first animal was inoculated intravenously with a stool extract from a French patient who had never left the country and in whom post-transfusion hepatitis was excluded. Four passages were performed, and the infection was transmitted by parenteral as well as the oral routes by inoculation of stools or liver extracts. Infection led in three monkeys to reversible hepatocyte injury manifested by a transitory increase in serum aminotransferases. The other three animals, in which persistently high levels of aminotransferases was observed, were sacrificed on day 60 after inoculation. The incubation period, as evidenced by elevation of aminotransferases was about 3 to 4 weeks. The infectious agent was transitorily present in the stools before aminotransferase elevation. The presence of the infectious agent in the stools was correlated with the nonimmune Fab binding activity.