Volume 03 · Issue 05 · 2021

In December of 2019, several cases of atypical pneumonia caused by an unknown agent were reported in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province in China. In early January 2020, it was announced that these cases were caused by a novel coronavirus. The virus was later named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes a disease associated with atypical pneumonia termed Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Several respiratory viruses, including coronaviruses and influenza viruses tend to have prominent peaks of infection during colder seasons, especially in temperate regions. The cold temperatures, along with accompanying dry conditions can drive respiratory tract infections by assisting with viral transmission, weakening the human immune system, and increasing viral molecular stability. Though the topic of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and warm weather has been associated with misinformation campaigns, it is worth investigating since an informative answer may give an indication of the future behavior of SARS-CoV-2.

Many factors have been identified as having the ability to affect the sensitivity of rapid antigen detection (RAD) tests for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This study aimed to identify the impact of sample processing on the sensitivity of the RAD tests. We explored the effect of different inactivation methods, viral transport media (VTM) solutions, and sample preservation on the sensitivity of four RAD kits based on two SARS-CoV-2 strains. Compared with non-inactivation, heat inactivation significantly impacted the sensitivity of most RAD kits; however, β-propiolactone inactivation only had a minor effect. Some of the VTM solutions (VTM2, MANTACC) had a significant influence on the sensitivity of the RAD kits, especially for low viral-loads samples. The detection value of RAD kits was slightly decreased, while most of them were still in the detection range with the extension of preservation time and the increase of freeze-thaw cycles. Our results showed that selecting the appropriate inactivation methods and VTM solutions is necessary during reagent development, performance evaluation, and clinical application.

Infectious disease outbreaks, such as 'Coronavirus disease 2019' (COVID-19), can constitute major global health threats with far-reaching consequences. As outbreaks develop, the international scientific community must provide high-quality scientific research-ready biological samples to solve the existing clinical and epidemiological questions to better combat the pandemic. Such examples are provided by dedicated biobank facilities, the latter collecting increasingly high volumes of biological samples. However, the more significant concentrations of infectious or potentially infectious biological materials can create a safety risk. The current short report describes the first attempt to identify the published scientific works on biobanking and safety. Three broad thematic areas have been identified: the physical security relevant to staff and sample integrity, the data safety aspects, and the governance parameters relating to the previous two. While the current publications reflect a broad alignment with existing standards and best practices in the biobanking field, they also demonstrate an opportunity for further in-depth work on this field in the post-COVID-19 era.

The present pandemic has posed a crisis to the economy of the world and the health sector. Therefore, the race to expand research to understand some good molecular targets for vaccine and therapeutic development for SARS-CoV-2 is inevitable. The newly discovered coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) is a positive sense, single-stranded RNA, and enveloped virus, assigned to the beta CoV genus. The virus (SARS-CoV-2) is more infectious than the previously detected coronaviruses (MERS and SARS). Findings from many studies have revealed that S protein and RdRp are good targets for drug repositioning, novel therapeutic development (antibodies and small molecule drugs), and vaccine discovery. Therapeutics such as chloroquine, convalescent plasma, monoclonal antibodies, spike binding peptides, and small molecules could alter the ability of S protein to bind to the ACE-2 receptor, and drugs such as remdesivir (targeting SARS-CoV-2 RdRp), favipir, and emetine could prevent SASR-CoV-2 RNA synthesis. The novel vaccines such as mRNA1273 (Moderna), 3LNP-mRNAs (Pfizer/BioNTech), and ChAdOx1-S (University of Oxford/Astra Zeneca) targeting S protein have proven to be effective in combating the present pandemic. Further exploration of the potential of S protein and RdRp is crucial in fighting the present pandemic.

The number of COVID-19 confirmed cases rapidly grew since the SARS-CoV-2 virus was identified in late 2019. Due to the high transmissibility of this virus, more countries are experiencing the repeated waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, with limited manufacturing and distribution of vaccines, control measures might still be the most critical measures to contain outbreaks worldwide. Therefore, evaluating the effectiveness of various control measures is necessary to inform policymakers and improve future preparedness. In addition, there is an ongoing need to enhance our understanding of the epidemiological parameters and the transmission patterns for a better response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This review focuses on how various models were applied to guide the COVID-19 response by estimating key epidemiologic parameters and evaluating the effectiveness of control measures. We also discuss the insights obtained from the prediction of COVID-19 trajectories under different control measures scenarios.

Drug resistance via drug-resistant mutations in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) genome is the primary cause of antiviral therapy failure. Consequently, HIV drug resistance genotyping has become a critical approach in HIV prevention and control. Compared to the Sanger sequencing technology, high-throughput sequencing (HTS) technology has superior sensitivity and timeliness, with strong detection capabilities for low-frequency mutations. With the continued advancement of HTS technologies, their prominence in HIV drug resistance detection techniques has increased accordingly. This article will review the latest developments in HTS technology and its applications in HIV drug resistance testing.

Mink has been identified as an animal with susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 and also as the only animal with evidence to transmit the virus back to humans. Thus, the surveillance of viruses among high-density farmed minks has a significant meaning for the control of zoonotic emerging diseases in humans. Within anal swabs of minks that died of unknown causes in a mink farm, mink calicivirus (MCV) and mammalian orthoreovirus (MRV) were detected and simultaneously observed within MDCK cell culture from the sample of the same lethal mink. The parallel isolation was successfully performed by utilizing cell lines from different host sources with distinct viral sensitivities, i.e. Mv.1.Lu and Vero-E6 and the two viruses were independently separated. The prevalence of the virus among the minks and its genomic characteristics were investigated through deep sequencing technology. Phylogenetic analysis of the viral genome showed a close relationship of the newly isolated MCV-GCCDC8-2020 with MCV strains belonging to the genus Vesivirus, but with unique mutations derived from the major structural protein (VP1). The reovirus MRV-GCCDC9-2020 isolated from the same mink belongs to serotype 3 mammalian orthoreovirus and genome analysis showed a potential reassortment derived from reoviruses in different species. This study provides a beneficial reference on viral co-infection within disease investigation in farmed minks and raises the concern for the virus surveillance among the high-density fed animal farms.

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) was first detected in China in 2009. The incidence of SFTS increases year by year, and there is no effective treatment. Considering that the reported prevalence of SFTSV infection varies from region to region, we aimed to quantitatively evaluate the epidemic characteristics of SFTSV infection in China from 2010 to 2020, including the distribution differences in infectious season, sex, age, occupation, and region. A meta-analysis framework was used to search for the related published data with keywords in electronic databases (CNKI, WanFang, CBM, and PubMed). According to the PRISMA statement, the studies that included SFTS diagnosed in China were analyzed. Furthermore, we used Revman and Stata to merge statistical effects, and used I2 and P-values for heterogeneity test and quality assessment. Eleven studies containing 4,932 cases confirmed by SFTSV infection were included in this meta-analysis. The ratio of male-to-female is 1.04 to 1. Cases were concentrated between 40 and 80 years of age (MD = 92%, 95%CI: 91%-93%). Farmers are at the highest risk of SFTSV infection (MD = 84%, 95%CI: 77%-90%). The risk of infection for consecutive period of April-August was significantly higher than the sum of the remaining months (MD = 82%, 95%CI: 78%-85%). In addition, the patient has an extensive history of exposure, including living in the mountains, exposure to ticks, livestock, mouse and the patient. We came to the conclusion that SFTSV is transmitted primarily through tick bites in China, so middle-aged and older adults living in mountains regions are at the highest risk for SFTSV infection in April through August each year.