Articles: sars-cov-2.
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Testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) got off to a slow start in the United States. In this commentary, I describe my experience with CoV disease 2019 (COVID-19), with a focus on being tested at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Respiratory Diagnostic Center on its inaugural day.
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J. Clin. Microbiol. · Jul 2020
Evaluation of the QIAstat-Dx Respiratory SARS-CoV-2 Panel, the First Rapid Multiplex PCR Commercial Assay for SARS-CoV-2 Detection.
In the race to contain severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), efficient detection and triage of infected patients must rely on rapid and reliable testing. In this work, we performed the first evaluation of the QIAstat-Dx respiratory SARS-CoV-2 panel (QIAstat-SARS) for SARS-CoV-2 detection. This assay is the first rapid multiplex PCR (mPCR) assay, including SARS-CoV-2 detection, and is fully compatible with a non-PCR-trained laboratory or point-of-care (PoC) testing. ⋯ No cross-reaction was encountered for any other respiratory viruses or bacteria included in the panel. The QIAstat-SARS rapid multiplex PCR panel provides a highly sensitive, robust, and accurate assay for rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2. This assay allows rapid decisions even in non-PCR-trained laboratory or point-of-care testing, allowing innovative organization.
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J. Clin. Microbiol. · Jul 2020
Comparative StudyPerformance Characteristics of Four High-Throughput Immunoassays for Detection of IgG Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.
The role of serologic testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), in both the clinical and public health settings, will continue to evolve as we gain increasing insight into our immune response to the virus. Here, we evaluated four high-throughput serologic tests for detection of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies, from Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, IL), Epitope Diagnostics, Inc. (San Diego, CA), Euroimmun (Lubeck, Germany), and Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics (Rochester, NY), using a panel of serially collected serum samples (n = 224) from 56 patients with confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), healthy donor sera from 2018, and a cross-reactivity serum panel collected in early 2020. The sensitivities of the Abbott, Epitope, Euroimmun, and Ortho-Clinical IgG assays in convalescent-phase serum samples collected more than 14 days post-symptom onset or post-initial positive reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) result were 92.9% (78/84), 88.1% (74/84), 97.6% (82/84), and 98.8% (83/84), respectively. ⋯ Overall assay specificity/positive predictive values based on a 5% prevalence rate were 99.6%/92.8%, 99.6%/90.6%, 98.0%/71.2%, and 99.6%/92.5%, respectively, for the Abbott, Epitope, Euroimmun, and Ortho-Clinical IgG assays. In conclusion, we show high sensitivity in convalescent-phase sera and high specificity for the Abbott, Euroimmun, and Ortho-Clinical anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG assays. With the unprecedented influx of commercially available serologic tests for detection of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, it remains imperative that laboratories thoroughly evaluate such assays for accuracy prior to implementation.
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J. Clin. Microbiol. · Jul 2020
Review Comparative StudyComparative Pathogenesis of Bovine and Porcine Respiratory Coronaviruses in the Animal Host Species and SARS-CoV-2 in Humans.
Discovery of bats with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-related coronaviruses (CoVs) raised the specter of potential future outbreaks of zoonotic SARS-CoV-like disease in humans, which largely went unheeded. Nevertheless, the novel SARS-CoV-2 of bat ancestral origin emerged to infect humans in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 and then became a global pandemic. Less than 5 months after its emergence, millions of people worldwide have been infected asymptomatically or symptomatically and at least 360,000 have died. ⋯ BCoV also has a dual tropism for the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts. These aspects, their interspecies transmission, and certain factors that impact disease severity in cattle parallel related facets of SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-2 in humans. PRCV has a tissue tropism for the upper and lower respiratory tracts and a cellular tropism for type 1 and 2 pneumocytes in lung but is generally a mild infection unless complicated by other exacerbating factors, such as bacterial or viral coinfections and immunosuppression (corticosteroids).
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Annals of intensive care · Jul 2020
ReviewSARS-CoV-2 post-infective myocarditis: the tip of COVID-19 immune complications?
Recent paediatric cases of acute myocarditis following a SARS-CoV-2 infection have raised the possibility of post-infective complications of COVID-19. This short editorial is reviewing current understanding of this new complication, its pathophysiology, diagnosis and therapeutic strategy.