1887
Research Open Access
Like 5

Abstract

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.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.3.2000045
2020-01-23
2024-12-05
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.3.2000045
Loading
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/eurosurveillance/25/3/eurosurv-25-3-5.html?itemId=/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.3.2000045&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. World Health Organization (WHO). Coronavirus. Geneva: WHO; 2020 [Accessed 21 Jan 2020]. Available from: https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus
  2. Zhang Y-Z. Novel 2019 coronavirus genome. Virological. [Accessed 21 Jan 2020]. Available from: http://virological.org/t/novel-2019-coronavirus-genome/319
  3. de Groot RJ, Baker SC, Baric R, Enjuanes L, Gorbalenya AE, Holmes KV, et al. Family Coronaviridae. In: King AMQ, Adams MJ, Carstens EB, Lefkowitz EJ. Virus taxonomy: classification and nomenclature of viruses: ninth report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. London; Waltham: Academic Press; 2012. p. 806-20.
  4. Peiris JS, Yuen KY, Osterhaus AD, Stöhr K. The severe acute respiratory syndrome. N Engl J Med. 2003;349(25):2431-41.  https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra032498  PMID: 14681510 
  5. World Health Organization. (WHO. Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). Situation report – 1. Geneva: WHO; 21 Jan 2020. Available from: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200121-sitrep-1-2019-ncov.pdf
  6. Abbott A. SARS testing: First past the post. Nature. 2003;423(6936):114.  https://doi.org/10.1038/423114a  PMID: 12736651 
  7. Corman VM, Müller MA, Costabel U, Timm J, Binger T, Meyer B, et al. Assays for laboratory confirmation of novel human coronavirus (hCoV-EMC) infections. Euro Surveill. 2012;17(49):20334.  https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.17.49.20334-en  PMID: 23231891 
  8. Drosten C, Günther S, Preiser W, van der Werf S, Brodt HR, Becker S, et al. Identification of a novel coronavirus in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome. N Engl J Med. 2003;348(20):1967-76.  https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa030747  PMID: 12690091 
  9. Corman VM, Eickmann M, Landt O, Bleicker T, Brünink S, Eschbach-Bludau M, et al. Specific detection by real-time reverse-transcription PCR assays of a novel avian influenza A(H7N9) strain associated with human spillover infections in China. Euro Surveill. 2013;18(16):20461. PMID: 23611031 
  10. Corman VM, Eckerle I, Bleicker T, Zaki A, Landt O, Eschbach-Bludau M, et al. Detection of a novel human coronavirus by real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Euro Surveill. 2012;17(39):20285.  https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.17.39.20285-en  PMID: 23041020 
  11. Panning M, Charrel RN, Donoso Mantke O, Landt O, Niedrig M, Drosten C. Coordinated implementation of chikungunya virus reverse transcription-PCR. Emerg Infect Dis. 2009;15(3):469-71.  https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1503.081104  PMID: 19239767 
  12. Corman VM, Rasche A, Baronti C, Aldabbagh S, Cadar D, Reusken CB, et al. Assay optimization for molecular detection of Zika virus. Bull World Health Organ. 2016;94(12):880-92.  https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.16.175950  PMID: 27994281 
  13. Drexler JF, Gloza-Rausch F, Glende J, Corman VM, Muth D, Goettsche M, et al. Genomic characterization of severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus in European bats and classification of coronaviruses based on partial RNA-dependent RNA polymerase gene sequences. J Virol. 2010;84(21):11336-49.  https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.00650-10  PMID: 20686038 
  14. Muth D, Corman VM, Roth H, Binger T, Dijkman R, Gottula LT, et al. Attenuation of replication by a 29 nucleotide deletion in SARS-coronavirus acquired during the early stages of human-to-human transmission. Sci Rep. 2018;8(1):15177.  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-33487-8  PMID: 30310104 
  15. Corman VM, Muth D, Niemeyer D, Drosten C. Hosts and sources of endemic human coronaviruses. Adv Virus Res. 2018;100:163-88.  https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.aivir.2018.01.001  PMID: 29551135 
  16. Drexler JF, Corman VM, Drosten C. Ecology, evolution and classification of bat coronaviruses in the aftermath of SARS. Antiviral Res. 2014;101:45-56.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.antiviral.2013.10.013  PMID: 24184128 
  17. Cui J, Li F, Shi ZL. Origin and evolution of pathogenic coronaviruses. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2019;17(3):181-92.  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-018-0118-9  PMID: 30531947 
  18. Romette JL, Prat CM, Gould EA, de Lamballerie X, Charrel R, Coutard B, et al. The European Virus Archive goes global: A growing resource for research. Antiviral Res. 2018;158:127-34.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.antiviral.2018.07.017  PMID: 30059721 
  19. Alleweldt F, Kara S, Osinski A, Van Baal P, Kellerborg K, Aarestrup FM, et al. Developing a framework to assess the costeffectiveness of COMPARE - a global platform for the exchange of sequence-based pathogen data. Rev Sci Tech. 2017;36(1):311-22.  https://doi.org/10.20506/rst.36.1.2631  PMID: 28926006 
  20. Domingo C, Ellerbrok H, Koopmans M, Nitsche A, Leitmeyer K, Charrel RN, et al. Need for additional capacity and improved capability for molecular detection of yellow fever virus in European Expert Laboratories: External Quality Assessment, March 2018. Euro Surveill. 2018;23(28):1800341.  https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2018.23.28.1800341  PMID: 30017021 
  21. Pas SD, Patel P, Reusken C, Domingo C, Corman VM, Drosten C, et al. First international external quality assessment of molecular diagnostics for Mers-CoV. J Clin Virol. 2015;69:81-5.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcv.2015.05.022  PMID: 26209385 
  22. Gobat N, Amuasi J, Yazdanpanah Y, Sigfid L, Davies H, Byrne JP, et al. Advancing preparedness for clinical research during infectious disease epidemics. ERJ Open Res. 2019;5(2):00227-2018.  https://doi.org/10.1183/23120541.00227-2018  PMID: 31123684 
/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.3.2000045
Loading

Data & Media loading...

Supplementary data

Submit comment
Close
Comment moderation successfully completed
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error