Background: The ongoing outbreak of the recently emerged novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) poses a challenge for public health laboratories as virus isolates are unavailable while there is growing evidence that the outbreak is more widespread than initially thought, and international spread through travellers does already occur.
Aim: We aimed to develop and deploy robust diagnostic methodology for use in public health laboratory settings without having virus material available.
Methods: Here we present a validated diagnostic workflow for 2019-nCoV, its design relying on close genetic relatedness of 2019-nCoV with SARS coronavirus, making use of synthetic nucleic acid technology.
Results: The workflow reliably detects 2019-nCoV, and further discriminates 2019-nCoV from SARS-CoV. Through coordination between academic and public laboratories, we confirmed assay exclusivity based on 297 original clinical specimens containing a full spectrum of human respiratory viruses. Control material is made available through European Virus Archive - Global (EVAg), a European Union infrastructure project.
Conclusion: The present study demonstrates the enormous response capacity achieved through coordination of academic and public laboratories in national and European research networks.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6988269 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.3.2000045 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Evaluation of Cognitive Functions in People Living with HIV Before and After COVID-19 Infection.
Viruses
January 2025
1st Department of Internal Medicine, Laiko General Hospital, 11527 Athens, Greece.
Background: Cognitive function decline is a problem in aging people living with HIV (PLWHIV). COVID-19 infection is associated with neuropsychiatric manifestations that may persist. The aim of our study was to evaluate cognitive function in PLWHIV before and after COVID-19 infection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComparative Analyses of Antiviral Potencies of Second-Generation Integrase Strand Transfer Inhibitors (INSTIs) and the Developmental Compound 4d Against a Panel of Integrase Quadruple Mutants.
Viruses
January 2025
Chemical Biology Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Frederick, MD 21702, USA.
Second-generation integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) are strongly recommended for people living with HIV-1 (PLWH). The emergence of resistance to second-generation INSTIs has been infrequent and has not yet been a major issue in high-income countries. However, the delayed rollouts of these INSTIs in low- to middle-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic combined with increased transmission of drug-resistant mutants worldwide are leading to an increase in INSTI resistance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBetacoronaviruses Differentially Activate the Integrated Stress Response to Optimize Viral Replication in Lung-Derived Cell Lines.
Viruses
January 2025
Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
The betacoronavirus genus contains five of the seven human coronaviruses, making it a particularly critical area of research to prepare for future viral emergence. We utilized three human betacoronaviruses, one from each subgenus-HCoV-OC43 (embecovirus), SARS-CoV-2 (sarbecovirus), and MERS-CoV (merbecovirus)-, to study betacoronavirus interactions with the PKR-like ER kinase (PERK) pathway of the integrated stress response (ISR)/unfolded protein response (UPR). The PERK pathway becomes activated by an abundance of unfolded proteins within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), leading to phosphorylation of eIF2α and translational attenuation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInterpretation of COVID-19 Epidemiological Trends in Mexico Through Wastewater Surveillance Using Simple Machine Learning Algorithms for Rapid Decision-Making.
Viruses
January 2025
School of Engineering and Sciences, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey 64849, Mexico.
Detection and quantification of disease-related biomarkers in wastewater samples, denominated Wastewater-based Surveillance (WBS), has proven a valuable strategy for studying the prevalence of infectious diseases within populations in a time- and resource-efficient manner, as wastewater samples are representative of all cases within the catchment area, whether they are clinically reported or not. However, analysis and interpretation of WBS datasets for decision-making during public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, remains an area of opportunity. In this article, a database obtained from wastewater sampling at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and university campuses in Monterrey and Mexico City between 2021 and 2022 was used to train simple clustering- and regression-based risk assessment models to allow for informed prevention and control measures in high-affluence facilities, even if working with low-dimensionality datasets and a limited number of observations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPopulation-Level SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Cycle Threshold Values and Their Relationships with COVID-19 Transmission and Outcome Metrics: A Time Series Analysis Across Pandemic Years.
Viruses
January 2025
Antiguo Hospital Civil de Guadalajara, "Fray Antonio Alcalde", Guadalajara 44280, Mexico.
This study investigates the relationship between SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR cycle threshold (Ct) values and key COVID-19 transmission and outcome metrics across five years of the pandemic in Jalisco, Mexico. Utilizing a comprehensive time-series analysis, we evaluated weekly median Ct values as proxies for viral load and their temporal associations with positivity rates, reproduction numbers (Rt), hospitalizations, and mortality. Cross-correlation and lagged regression analyses revealed significant lead-lag relationships, with declining Ct values consistently preceding surges in positivity rates and hospitalizations, particularly during the early phases of the pandemic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!