The present invention relates to a graft animal model for propagating papilloma virus and for evaluating and testing candidate therapeutic agents against papilloma virus. The animal model comprises, a recipient animal engrafted with injured skin graft infected with a host-specific papilloma virus (PV). The grafted skin, having demonstrable papillomas supports the propagation of its host-specific PV. The invention particularly relates to a xenograft animal model for hosting and propagating human papillomavirus (HPV), thereby providing a means for generating infectious and passaging HPV suspensions, and for screening candidate therapeutic agents against HPV. The invention additionally relates to a novel method for generating the xenograft human animal model.
