Hepaciviruses in a small animal infection model. Hepaciviruses in a small animal infection model

Many people worldwide suffer from hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, which is frequently persistent. The lack of efficient vaccines against HCV, and the unavailability of, or limited compliance with existing antiviral therapies is problematic for health care systems worldwide. Improved small animal models would support further hepacivirus research, including development of vaccines and novel antivirals. The recent discovery of several mammalian hepaciviruses may facilitate such research. In this study, we demonstrated that bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus) were susceptible to bank vole-associated Hepacivirus F and Hepacivirus J, based on the detection of hepaciviral RNA in 52 of 55 experimentally inoculated voles. Here we provide the (nearly) complete genome sequences of the hepaciviruses from this study.