Monkeys and Rats Are Not Susceptible to Ferret Hepatitis E Virus Infection

Ferret hepatitis E virus (HEV), a novel hepatitis E-like virus, has been identified in ferrets in the Netherlands, Japan, and the US. To determine whether ferret HEV transmits to other animals, we inoculated laboratory rats (Wistar), nude rats (Long-Evans-rnu/rnu), and cynomolgus monkeys with ferret HEV (F4351) by intravenous injection. None of the animals demonstrated a positive sign for virus replication, indicating that rats and monkeys are not susceptible to ferret HEV. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel Hepatitis E virus (HEV), a small round nonenveloped single-strand-positive RNA virus, is the sole member of the genus Hepevirus in the family Hepeviridae [1] . Hepevirus includes four genotypes of HEV that have been isolated from humans (G1, G2, G3, and G4 HEV) and cause acute hepatitis E [2] . Swine, wild boars, deer, and mongooses are the reservoirs for G3 and G4 HEV, and these HEVs can be transmitted from these animals to humans, suggesting that hepatitis E is a zoonotic disease [3] . In adReceived: August 5, 2014 Accepted: January 6, 2015 Published online: April 30, 2015 Tian-Cheng Li Department of Virology II, National Institute of Infectious Diseases 4-7-1 Gakuen, Musashi-murayama Tokyo 208-0011 (Japan) E-Mail litc @ nih.go.jp © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel 0300–5526/15/0583–0139$39.50/0