The woodchuck animal model of hepatitis B-like virus infection and disease [Le modèle animal de la marmotte d'Amérique de l'infection et la maladie à virus de l'hépatite B-like .].

Résumé

As a model of virus-induced disease, the WHV/woodchuck system is at an early stage of development yet, much progress has been made and there now exists considerable evidence that WHV causes serious liver disease with major parallels to HBV infection of man. The relatively short interval (4-5 yrs) from infection to end-stage disease in this model provides unique opportunities for definition of the natural history of HBV disease and the evaluation of various intervention strategies (e.g., vaccine prophylaxis and anti-viral therapy). Such studies are currently in progress in a number of laboratories.