Isolation and rapid sharing of the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS‐CoV‐2) from the first patient diagnosed with COVID‐19 in Australia

Objectives To describe the first isolation and sequencing of SARS‐CoV‐2 in Australia and rapid sharing of the isolate. Setting SARS‐CoV‐2 was isolated from a 58‐year‐old man from Wuhan, China who arrived in Melbourne on 19 January 2020 and was admitted to the Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne from th...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Medical Journal of Australia 2020-06, Vol.212 (10), p.459-462
Main Authors: Caly, Leon, Druce, Julian, Roberts, Jason, Bond, Katherine, Tran, Thomas, Kostecki, Renata, Yoga, Yano, Naughton, William, Taiaroa, George, Seemann, Torsten, Schultz, Mark B, Howden, Benjamin P, Korman, Tony M, Lewin, Sharon R, Williamson, Deborah A, Catton, Mike G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Australia
Betacoronavirus - genetics
Coronavirus Infections - diagnosis
Coronavirus Infections - genetics
COVID-19
Environment and Public Health
Humans
Infectious Diseases
Information Dissemination - methods
Male
Middle Aged
Pandemics
Patient Isolation - methods
Pneumonia, Viral - diagnosis
Pneumonia, Viral - genetics
Public health
Research and Reviews
SARS-CoV-2
Virus diseases
Whole Genome Sequencing
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Request full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Objectives To describe the first isolation and sequencing of SARS‐CoV‐2 in Australia and rapid sharing of the isolate. Setting SARS‐CoV‐2 was isolated from a 58‐year‐old man from Wuhan, China who arrived in Melbourne on 19 January 2020 and was admitted to the Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne from the emergency department on 24 January 2020 with fever, cough, and progressive dyspnoea. Major outcomes Clinical course and laboratory features of the first reported case of COVID‐19 (the illness caused by SARS‐CoV‐2) in Australia; isolation, whole genome sequencing, imaging, and rapid sharing of virus from the patient. Results A nasopharyngeal swab and sputum collected when the patient presented to hospital were each positive for SARS‐CoV‐2 (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction). Inoculation of Vero/hSLAM cells with material from the nasopharyngeal swab led to the isolation of SARS‐CoV‐2 virus in culture. Electron microscopy of the supernatant confirmed the presence of virus particles with morphology characteristic of viruses of the family Coronaviridae. Whole genome sequencing of the viral isolate and phylogenetic analysis indicated the isolate exhibited greater than 99.99% sequence identity with other publicly available SARS‐CoV‐2 genomes. Within 24 hours of isolation, the first Australian SARS‐CoV‐2 isolate was shared with local and overseas reference laboratories and major North American and European culture collections. Conclusions The ability to rapidly identify, propagate, and internationally share our SARS‐CoV‐2 isolate is an important step in collaborative scientific efforts to deal effectively with this international public health emergency by developing better diagnostic procedures, vaccine candidates, and antiviral agents.
ISSN:0025-729X
1326-5377
DOI:10.5694/mja2.50569