Lack of susceptibility of marmosets to human non-A, non-B hepatitis.

Infectious sera from three humans with chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis, whose blood or serum had transmitted non-A, non-B hepatitis both to other humans and to experimentally inoculated chimpanzees, were inoculated into five marmosets. A sixth uninoculated marmoset served as a control. No elevations in levels of serum alanine aminotransferase or isocitric dehydrogenase occurred in serum samples obtained weekly from any of the marmosets during three months following inoculation. This study indicates that certain species of marmoset, which are susceptible to and provide well-documented animal models for hepatitis A and GB-agent hepatitis, do not appear to be susceptible to the agent(s) of human non-A, non-B hepatitis. In addition, this study suggests that the agent(s) of human non-A, non-B hepatitis and the GB agent are probably different.