[Secondary infection with hepatitis A in Rhesus monkeys after experimental inoculation].

Time course of specific humoral immunity is studied in 186 Macaca mulatta spontaneously infected with hepatitis A virus (HAV). Immunity parameters are characterized quantitatively and qualitatively and their similarity to those in human hepatitis A (HA) is demonstrated. Repeated HA was reproduced in 12 seropositive Macaca mulatta infected with HAV-MR in high doses. The disease was characterized either by periodical virus release with feces for 1.5-2 months (10(4) ID50) or by that together with a notable increase of SGPT for 1.5-4 months (10(5) ID50) without morphologic changes in the liver, indicating a lesser severity of infection. Reinfection was associated with a rapid expressed increase of class G anti-HAV titers to 20,000-74,000 and no class M antibodies. Virus release with feces in the absence of the main specific diagnostic criterion, IgM antibodies, may be epidemiologically significant. Hyperimmune sera from monkeys with reinfection are intended to be used as the antibody component of immune diagnostic agent.