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Bang LL, Tornby DR, Pham STD, Assing K, Möller S, Palarasah Y, Madsen LW, Thomsen KG, Johansen IS, Pedersen RM, Andersen TE. Culturing of SARS-CoV-2 from patient samples: Protocol for optimal virus recovery and assessment of infectious viral load. J Virol Methods 2024; 326:114912. [PMID: 38447645 DOI: 10.1016/j.jviromet.2024.114912] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2023] [Revised: 01/16/2024] [Accepted: 03/02/2024] [Indexed: 03/08/2024]
Abstract
Optimal sampling, preservation, and culturing of SARS-CoV-2 from COVID-19 patients are critical for successful recovery of virus isolates and to accurately estimate contagiousness of the patient. In this study, we investigated the influence of the type of sampling media, storage time, freezing conditions, sterile filtration, and combinations of these to determine the optimal pre-analytic conditions for virus recovery and estimation of infectious viral load in COVID-19 patients. Further, we investigated the viral shedding kinetics and mucosal antibody response in 38 COVID-19 hospitalized patients. We found Universal Transport Medium (Copan) to be the most optimal medium for preservation of SARS-CoV-2 infectivity. Our data showed that the probability of a positive viral culture was strongly correlated to Ct values, however some samples did not follow the general trend. We found a significant correlation between plaque forming units and levels of mucosal antibodies and found that high levels of mucosal antibodies correlated with reduced chance of isolating the virus. Our data reveals essential parameters to consider from specimen collection over storage to culturing technique for optimal chance of isolating SARS-CoV-2 and accurately estimating patient contagiousness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Line L Bang
- Department of Clinical Microbiology, Odense University Hospital and Research Unit of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - Ditte R Tornby
- Department of Clinical Microbiology, Odense University Hospital and Research Unit of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - Stephanie T D Pham
- Department of Cancer and Inflammation Research, Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - Kristian Assing
- Department of Clinical Immunology, Odense University Hospital and Research Unit for Clinical Immunology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - Sören Möller
- Open Patient Data Explorative Network (OPEN), Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark and Odense University Hospital, Odense 5000, Denmark
| | - Yaseelan Palarasah
- Department of Cancer and Inflammation Research, Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - Lone W Madsen
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Odense University Hospital and Research Unit for Infectious Diseases, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark; Department of Regional Health Research, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark; Unit for Infectious Diseases, Department of medicine, Sygehus Lillebælt, Kolding, Denmark
| | - Karina G Thomsen
- Department of Clinical Microbiology, Odense University Hospital and Research Unit of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - Isik S Johansen
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Odense University Hospital and Research Unit for Infectious Diseases, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - Rune M Pedersen
- Department of Clinical Microbiology, Odense University Hospital and Research Unit of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | - Thomas E Andersen
- Department of Clinical Microbiology, Odense University Hospital and Research Unit of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
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