SARS-CoV-2 is notable both for its rapid spread, and for the heterogeneity of its patterns of transmission, with multiple published incidences of superspreading behaviour. Here, we applied a novel network reconstruction algorithm to infer patterns of viral transmission occurring between patients and health care workers (HCWs) in the largest clusters of COVID-19 infection identified during the first wave of the epidemic at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK. Based upon dates of individuals reporting symptoms, recorded individual locations, and viral genome sequence data, we show an uneven pattern of transmission between individuals, with patients being much more likely to be infected by other patients than by HCWs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHere, we report the coding-complete genome sequences of nine clinical severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants and their mutations. The samples were collected from nine Bangladeshi coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. We have identified the E484K escape mutation and the S359T mutation within the spike protein coding region of the sequenced genomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The burden and influence of health-care associated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections is unknown. We aimed to examine the use of rapid SARS-CoV-2 sequencing combined with detailed epidemiological analysis to investigate health-care associated SARS-CoV-2 infections and inform infection control measures.
Methods: In this prospective surveillance study, we set up rapid SARS-CoV-2 nanopore sequencing from PCR-positive diagnostic samples collected from our hospital (Cambridge, UK) and a random selection from hospitals in the East of England, enabling sample-to-sequence in less than 24 h.
BK polyomavirus (BKPyV) is a small DNA virus that establishes a life-long persistent infection in the urinary tract of most people. BKPyV is known to cause severe morbidity in renal transplant recipients and can lead to graft rejection. The simple 5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBK polyomavirus (BKPyV; hereafter referred to as BK) causes a lifelong chronic infection and is associated with debilitating disease in kidney transplant recipients. Despite its importance, aspects of the virus life cycle remain poorly understood. In addition to the structural proteins, the late region of the BK genome encodes for an auxiliary protein called agnoprotein.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBK polyomavirus (BKPyV) is a member of a family of potentially oncogenic viruses, whose reactivation can cause severe pathological conditions in transplant patients, leading to graft rejection. As with many non-enveloped viruses, it is assumed that virus release occurs through lysis of the host cell. We now show the first evidence for a non-lytic release pathway for BKPyV and that this pathway can be blocked by the anion channel inhibitor DIDS.
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