[Detection of the first appearance of SARS-CoV-2 virus in Hungary based on retrospective testing of respiratory samples].

Introduction: In Hungary, SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in the swab samples of two Iranian patients on March 4, 2020. After finding the first positive cases, the question arose whether the virus had entered Hungary and caused infections before this date. Before March 4, 2020, except for the two above-mentioned samples, none of the 224 swab samples received specifically for SARS-CoV-2 tested positive.

Determining the effect of different environmental conditions on Ebola virus viability in clinically relevant specimens.

In 2013-2016, West Africa experienced the largest and longest Ebola virus disease outbreak ever documented. The wide geographic spread and magnitude of the outbreak often limited the timely and rapid testing of diagnostic samples from patients with suspected Ebola virus disease, raising questions regarding the optimal storage and shipping conditions of clinically relevant specimens, including EDTA-whole blood, plasma, capillary blood, urine and seminal fluid (associated with sexual transmission of the Ebola virus after recovery from the disease). Therefore, the aim of our study was to identify the extent to which storage temperature and clinical specimen type influence Ebola virus viability.

Emergence and characterisation of pandemic H1N1 influenza viruses in Hungarian swine herds.

In 2010, two novel porcine H1N1 influenza viruses were isolated from pigs with influenza-like illness in Hungarian swine herds. Sequence and phylogenetic analysis of these strains revealed that they shared molecular features with the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus strains, which emerged globally during 2009. The PB2, HA and NA genes contained unique amino acid changes compared to the available new H1N1 influenza virus sequences of pig origin.