Measuring infectious SARS-CoV-2 in clinical samples reveals a higher viral titer:RNA ratio for Delta and Epsilon vs. Alpha variants.

ABSTRACT: Novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants pose a challenge to controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous studies indicate that clinical samples collected from individuals infected with the Delta variant may contain higher levels of RNA than previous variants, but the relationship between levels of viral RNA and infectious virus for individual variants is unknown. We measured infectious viral titer (using a microfocus-forming assay) and total and subgenomic viral RNA levels (using RT-PCR) in a set of 162 clinical samples containing SARS-CoV-2 Alpha, Delta, and Epsilon variants that were collected in identical swab kits from outpatient test sites and processed soon after collection. We observed a high degree of variation in the relationship between viral ti

SUBMITTER: Despres HW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8812544 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature