In vivo tropisms and kinetics of rat theilovirus infection in immunocompetent and immunodeficient rats

► Introduce a rat model to study Theilovirus pathogenesis. ► Rat Theilovirus 1 has tropisms for the epithelial cells of the small intestine. ► Sustained high fecal viral shedding of RTV1 in rats deficient in T cells. ► Immunocompetent rats have differing serum antibody responses to RTV infection.