Rabbit as a Novel Animal Model for Hepatitis E Virus Infection and Vaccine Evaluation

The identification of hepatitis E virus (HEV) from rabbits motivated us to assess the possibility of using rabbits as a non-human primate animal model for HEV infection and vaccine evaluation. and were protected from hepatitis, but two out of the five rabbits showed virus shedding.Rabbits may be served as an alternative to the non-human primate models for HEV infection and vaccine evaluation when certain virus strains, appropriate viral dosages, and the intravenous route of inoculation are selected