Japanese journal of infectious diseases
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Jpn. J. Infect. Dis. · Sep 2020
Case ReportsThe First Pediatric Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Japan: Risk of Co-Infection with Other Respiratory Viruses.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a severe infectious disease of the respiratory tract caused by a novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, and has a high mortality rate. The disease emerged from Wuhan, China, in late 2019, and spread to Japan, including Hokkaido, in January 2020. In February 2020, 3 children were diagnosed with COVID-19 in Furano, Hokkaido, Japan. ⋯ Two of the 3 patients experienced co-infection with other respiratory viruses, including influenza virus A or human metapneumovirus. To the authors' knowledge, the cases described in the present report were the first pediatric patients with COVID-19 in Japan. In children with COVID-19, the possibility of co-infection with other respiratory pathogens should be considered.
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Jpn. J. Infect. Dis. · Sep 2020
Comparative StudyAssessment of Real-Time RT-PCR Kits for SARS-CoV-2 Detection.
The coronavirus induced disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Wuhan (China) in December 2019 is currently spreading rapidly worldwide. We recently reported a laboratory protocol for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 based on real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) assays using two primer sets, N and N2. On January 30-31, 2020, the protocol and the reagents for these assays were distributed to the local public health institutes and quarantine depots in Japan nationwide, and thereafter SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic testing was initiated. ⋯ While the LM S&W-E set targets the highly conserved region of E gene in the SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, the N2 set was designed to target specifically the unique region in the SARS-CoV-2 N gene. Therefore, the N2 set exhibits high specificity and sensitivity for SARS-CoV-2 detection. These results indicate that the protocol using the N and N2 sets is comparable to the commercially available kits, and thus is reliable for laboratory diagnosis of COVID-19.