tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Clin Infect Dis
. 2021 May 3;ciab360.
doi: 10.1093/cid/ciab360. Online ahead of print.
Retrospective Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Symptomatic Patients prior to Widespread Diagnostic Testing in Southern California
Evann E Hilt[SUP] 1 [/SUP], James Boocock[SUP] 2 3 4 [/SUP], Marisol Trejo[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Catherine Q Le[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Longhua Guo[SUP] 2 3 4 [/SUP], Yi Zhang[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Laila Sathe[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Valerie A Arboleda[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Yi Yin[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Joshua S Bloom[SUP] 2 3 [/SUP], Pin-Chieh Wang[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Joann G Elmore[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Leonid Kruglyak[SUP] 2 3 4 [/SUP], Lasata Shrestha[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Shah A Mohamed Bakhash[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Michelle Lin[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Hong Xie[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Meei-Li Huang[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Pavitra Roychoudhury[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Alexander Greninger[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Sukantha Chandrasekaran[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Shangxin Yang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Omai B Garner[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused one of the worst pandemics in recent history. Few reports have revealed that SARS-CoV-2 was spreading in the United States as early as the end of January. In this study, we aimed to determine if SARS-CoV-2 had been circulating in the Los Angeles (LA) area at a time when access to diagnostic testing for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was severely limited.
Methods: We used a pooling strategy to look for SARS-CoV-2 in remnant respiratory samples submitted for regular respiratory pathogen testing from symptomatic patients from November 2019 to early March 2020. We then performed sequencing on the positive samples.
Results: We detected SARS-CoV-2 in 7 specimens from 6 patients, dating back to mid-January. The earliest positive patient, with a sample collected on January 13, 2020 had no relevant travel history but did have a sibling with similar symptoms. Sequencing of these SARS-CoV-2 genomes revealed that the virus was introduced into the LA area from both domestic and international sources as early as January.
Conclusions: We present strong evidence of community spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the LA area well before widespread diagnostic testing was being performed in early 2020. These genomic data demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 was being introduced into Los Angeles County from both international and domestic sources in January 2020.
Keywords: Diagnostic Testing; SARS-CoV-2.
. 2021 May 3;ciab360.
doi: 10.1093/cid/ciab360. Online ahead of print.
Retrospective Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Symptomatic Patients prior to Widespread Diagnostic Testing in Southern California
Evann E Hilt[SUP] 1 [/SUP], James Boocock[SUP] 2 3 4 [/SUP], Marisol Trejo[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Catherine Q Le[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Longhua Guo[SUP] 2 3 4 [/SUP], Yi Zhang[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Laila Sathe[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Valerie A Arboleda[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Yi Yin[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Joshua S Bloom[SUP] 2 3 [/SUP], Pin-Chieh Wang[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Joann G Elmore[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Leonid Kruglyak[SUP] 2 3 4 [/SUP], Lasata Shrestha[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Shah A Mohamed Bakhash[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Michelle Lin[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Hong Xie[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Meei-Li Huang[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Pavitra Roychoudhury[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Alexander Greninger[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Sukantha Chandrasekaran[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Shangxin Yang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Omai B Garner[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 33939799
- DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciab360
Abstract
Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused one of the worst pandemics in recent history. Few reports have revealed that SARS-CoV-2 was spreading in the United States as early as the end of January. In this study, we aimed to determine if SARS-CoV-2 had been circulating in the Los Angeles (LA) area at a time when access to diagnostic testing for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was severely limited.
Methods: We used a pooling strategy to look for SARS-CoV-2 in remnant respiratory samples submitted for regular respiratory pathogen testing from symptomatic patients from November 2019 to early March 2020. We then performed sequencing on the positive samples.
Results: We detected SARS-CoV-2 in 7 specimens from 6 patients, dating back to mid-January. The earliest positive patient, with a sample collected on January 13, 2020 had no relevant travel history but did have a sibling with similar symptoms. Sequencing of these SARS-CoV-2 genomes revealed that the virus was introduced into the LA area from both domestic and international sources as early as January.
Conclusions: We present strong evidence of community spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the LA area well before widespread diagnostic testing was being performed in early 2020. These genomic data demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 was being introduced into Los Angeles County from both international and domestic sources in January 2020.
Keywords: Diagnostic Testing; SARS-CoV-2.