Identification and characterisation of SARS-CoV-2 and human alphaherpesvirus 1 from a productive coinfection in a fatal Covid-19 case
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Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
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Artigo de periódico
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BACKGROUND During routine Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) diagnosis, an unusually high viral load was detected by
reverse transcription real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) in a nasopharyngeal swab sample collected from a patient with
respiratory and neurological symptoms who rapidly succumbed to the disease. Therefore we sought to characterise the infection.
OBJECTIVES We aimed to determine and characterise the etiological agent responsible for the poor outcome.
METHODS Classical virological methods, such as plaque assay and plaque reduction neutralisation test combined with ampliconbased sequencing, as well as a viral metagenomic approach, were performed to characterise the etiological agents of the infection.
FINDINGS Plaque assay revealed two distinct plaque phenotypes, suggesting either the presence of two severe acute respiratory
syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) strains or a productive coinfection of two different species of virus. Amplicon-based
sequencing did not support the presence of any SARS-CoV-2 genetic variants that would explain the high viral load and
suggested the presence of a single SARS-CoV-2 strain. Nonetheless, the viral metagenomic analysis revealed that Coronaviridae
and Herpesviridae were the predominant virus families within the sample. This finding was confirmed by a plaque reduction
neutralisation test and PCR.
MAIN CONCLUSIONS We characterised a productive coinfection of SARS-CoV-2 and Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) in a
patient with severe symptoms that succumbed to the disease. Although we cannot establish the causal relationship between the
coinfection and the severity of the clinical case, this work serves as a warning for future studies focused on the interplay between
SARS-CoV-2 and HSV-1 coinfection and COVID-19 severity.
Abstract
Assunto
COVID-19 (Doença), Coinfecção, SARS-CoV-2
Palavras-chave
SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, HSV-1, Coinfection, Coronavirus
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https://www.scielo.br/j/mioc/a/MgHwBf6HDtZwTpC8PT5YCDP/#