Publications by authors named "Hazel Wing-Hei Lo"
Article Synopsis
- Traditional culture methods for diagnosing infections take a long time, but Nanopore 16S rRNA gene sequencing could speed up bacterial identification in infected fluids.
- A study tested the effectiveness of Nanopore 16S using various samples, comparing results from different analysis pipelines—Epi2me, Emu, and NanoCLUST—to traditional culturing methods.
- Emu showed the best accuracy in identifying bacteria, correctly classifying 97.7% of monomicrobial samples, while challenges persisted in dealing with polymicrobial samples, and the method could provide results within 6 hours.
Probable Animal-to-Human Transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Delta Variant AY.127 Causing a Pet Shop-Related Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak in Hong Kong.
Clin Infect Dis
August 2022
Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can infect human and other mammals, including hamsters. Syrian (Mesocricetus auratus) and dwarf (Phodopus sp.) hamsters are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection in the laboratory setting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDuring the investigation of a pet shop outbreak of severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) with probable hamster-to-human transmission, the environmental and hamster samples in epidemiologically linked pet shops were found positive for SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant AY.127 strains which are phylogenetically closely related to patients and reported European strains. This interspecies' spill-over has triggered transmission in 58 patients epidemiologically linked to three pet shops.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Clinical Utility of Two High-Throughput 16S rRNA Gene Sequencing Workflows for Taxonomic Assignment of Unidentifiable Bacterial Pathogens in Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry.
J Clin Microbiol
January 2022
Bacterial pathogens that cannot be identified using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) are occasionally encountered in clinical laboratories. The 16S rRNA gene is often used for sequence-based analysis to identify these bacterial species. Nevertheless, traditional Sanger sequencing is laborious, time-consuming, and low throughput.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe increasing prevalence of N501Y variants of SARS-CoV-2 has kindled global concern due to their enhanced transmissibility. Genome sequencing is the gold standard method to identify the emerging variants of concern. But it is time-consuming and expensive, limiting the widespread deployment of genome surveillance in some countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComplementation of contact tracing by mass testing for successful containment of beta COVID-19 variant (SARS-CoV-2 VOC B.1.351) epidemic in Hong Kong.
Lancet Reg Health West Pac
December 2021
Background: Global dissemination of SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern (VOCs) remains a concern. The aim of this study is to describe how mass testing and phylogenetic analysis successfully prevented local transmission of SARS-CoV-2 VOC in a densely populated city with low herd immunity for COVID-19.
Methods: In this descriptive study, we conducted contact tracing, quarantine, and mass testing of the potentially exposed contacts with the index case.