Research Group Virus Transmission

HCV, a plus strand RNA virus has chronically infected ca. 71 mio individuals and a vaccine is not available. In fact, chronic HCV infection is associated with about 30% of liver cancers worldwide and among the leading indications for orthotopic liver transplantation. Another RNA virus is hepatitis E virus (HEV) which is responsible for epidemics and endemics of acute hepatitis mainly through waterborne, foodborne, and zoonotic transmission routes. The research group “Virus Transmission” of Prof. Eike Steinmann is working on molecular and clinical transmission pathways of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatitis E virus (HEV) causing severe infections in humans. Therefore, new prevention strategies and therapies for these two RNA viruses should be developed. Risks of virus transmission in the environment, especially in the hospital should be identified as well as effective methods for virus inactivation established and validated. Another focus is to investigate the relevance and utility of HCV-related viruses in horses as model for HCV transmission and pathogenesis. The so-called non-primate hepacivirus (NPHV) is the closest relative of HCV described to date und opens new opportunities to study the natural infection of NPHV in its host.