Predicting infectivity: comparing four PCR-based assays to detect culturable SARS-CoV-2 in clinical samples.

ABSTRACT: With the COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 now in its second year, there remains an urgent need for diagnostic testing that can identify infected individuals, particularly those who harbor infectious virus. Various RT-PCR strategies have been proposed to identify specific viral RNA species that may predict the presence of infectious virus, including detection of transcriptional intermediates (e.g., subgenomic RNA [sgRNA]) and replicative intermediates (e.g., negative-strand RNA species). Using a novel primer/probe set for detection of subgenomic (sg)E transcripts, we successfully identified 100% of specimens containing culturable SARS-CoV-2 from a set of 126 clinical samples (total sgE C_T values ranging from 12.3 to 37.5). This assay showed superior performance compared to

SUBMITTER: Bruce EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8819313 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature