{"title":"Whole-Genome Sequencing-Based Confirmatory Methods on RT-qPCR Results for the Detection of Foodborne Viruses in Frozen Berries","authors":"Zhihui Yang, Michael Kulka, Qianru Yang, Efstathia Papafragkou, Christine Yu, Samantha Q. Wales, Diana Ngo, Haifeng Chen","doi":"10.1007/s12560-024-09591-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s12560-024-09591-6","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Accurate detection, identification, and subsequent confirmation of pathogens causing foodborne illness are essential for the prevention and investigation of foodborne outbreaks. This is particularly true when the causative agent is an enteric virus that has a very low infectious dose and is likely to be present at or near the limit of detection. In this study, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was combined with either of two non-targeted pre-amplification methods (SPIA and SISPA) to investigate their utility as a confirmatory method for RT-qPCR positive results of foods contaminated with enteric viruses. Frozen berries (raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries) were chosen as the food matrix of interest due to their association with numerous outbreaks of foodborne illness. The hepatitis A virus (HAV) and human norovirus (HuNoV) were used as the contaminating agents. The non-targeted WGS strategy employed in this study could detect and confirm HuNoV and HAV at genomic copy numbers in the single digit range, and in a few cases, identified viruses present in samples that had been found negative by RT-qPCR analyses. However, some RT-qPCR-positive samples could not be confirmed using the WGS method, and in cases with very high Ct values, only a few viral reads and short sequences were recovered from the samples. WGS techniques show great potential for confirmation and identification of virally contaminated food items. The approaches described here should be further optimized for routine application to confirm the viral contamination in berries.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":563,"journal":{"name":"Food and Environmental Virology","volume":"16 2","pages":"225 - 240"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12560-024-09591-6.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140839690","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ahmad Nejati, Seyed Mehdi Tabatabaei, Sussan Mahmoudi, Seyed Mohsen Zahraei, Hamideh Tabatabaie, Mohammad Razaghi, Farshad Khodakhah, Maryam Yousefi, Yaghoub Mollaei‑Kandelousi, Maryam Keyvanlou, Parastoo Soheili, Shayan Pouyandeh, Katayoon Samimi-Rad, Shohreh Shahmahmoodi
{"title":"Environmental Surveillance of Poliovirus and Non-polio Enteroviruses in Iran, 2017–2023: First Report of Imported Wild Poliovirus Type 1 Since 2000","authors":"Ahmad Nejati, Seyed Mehdi Tabatabaei, Sussan Mahmoudi, Seyed Mohsen Zahraei, Hamideh Tabatabaie, Mohammad Razaghi, Farshad Khodakhah, Maryam Yousefi, Yaghoub Mollaei‑Kandelousi, Maryam Keyvanlou, Parastoo Soheili, Shayan Pouyandeh, Katayoon Samimi-Rad, Shohreh Shahmahmoodi","doi":"10.1007/s12560-024-09600-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s12560-024-09600-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In Iran, which is at high risk of the Wild Poliovirus (WPV) and Vaccine-Derived Poliovirus (VDPV) importation due to its neighborhood with two polio endemic countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan, Environmental Surveillance (ES) was established in November 2017. Sistan-Balouchestan province was chosen for the ES due to its vicinity with Pakistan and Afghanistan. Five sewage collection sites in 4 cities (Zahedan, Zabol, Chabahar and Konarak) were selected in the high-risk areas. Since the establishment of ES in November 2017 till the end of 2023, 364 sewage specimens were collected and analyzed. The ES detected polioviruses which have the highest significance for polio eradication program, that is, Wild Poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) and Poliovirus type 2 (PV2). In April and May 2019, three of 364 (0.8%) sewage specimens from Konarak were positive for imported WPV1. According to phylogenetic analysis, they were highly related to WPV1 circulating in Karachi (Sindh province) in Pakistan. PV2 was also detected in 5.7% (21/364) of the sewage specimens, most of which proved to be imported from the neighboring countries. Of 21 isolated PV2s, 7 were VDPV2, of which 5 proved to be imported from the neighboring countries as there was VDPV2 circulating in Pakistan at the time of sampling, and 2 were ambiguous VDPVs (aVDPV) with unknown source. According to the findings of this study, as long as WPV1 and VDPV2 outbreaks are detected in Iran’s neighboring countries, there is a definite need for continuation and expansion of the environmental surveillance.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":563,"journal":{"name":"Food and Environmental Virology","volume":"16 3","pages":"391 - 397"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140662098","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Comparison of Three Viral Nucleic Acid\u0000 Preamplification Pipelines for Sewage Viral Metagenomics","authors":"Xavier Fernandez-Cassi, Tamar Kohn","doi":"10.1007/s12560-024-09594-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s12560-024-09594-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Viral metagenomics is a useful tool for detecting multiple human viruses in\u0000 urban sewage. However, more refined protocols are required for its effective use in\u0000 disease surveillance. In this study, we investigated the performance of three different\u0000 preamplification pipelines (specific to RNA viruses, DNA viruses or both) for viral\u0000 genome sequencing using spiked-in Phosphate Buffered Saline and sewage samples\u0000 containing known concentrations of viruses. We found that compared to the pipeline\u0000 targeting all genome types, the RNA pipeline performed better in detecting RNA viruses\u0000 in both spiked and unspiked sewage samples, allowing the detection of various mammalian\u0000 viruses including members from the <i>Reoviridae</i>,\u0000 <i>Picornaviridae</i>, <i>Astroviridae</i> and <i>Caliciviridae</i>.\u0000 However, the DNA-specific pipeline did not improve the detection of mammalian DNA\u0000 viruses. We also measured viral recovery by quantitative reverse transcription\u0000 polymerase chain reaction and assessed the impact of genetic background (non-viral\u0000 genetic material) on viral coverage. Our results indicate that viral recoveries were\u0000 generally lower in sewage (average of 11.0%) and higher in Phosphate Buffered Saline\u0000 (average of 23.4%) for most viruses. Additionally, spiked-in viruses showed lower genome\u0000 coverage in sewage, demonstrating the negative effect of genetic background on\u0000 sequencing. Finally, correlation analysis revealed a relationship between virus\u0000 concentration and genome normalized reads per million, indicating that viral metagenomic\u0000 sequencing can be semiquantitative.</p><h3>Graphical Abstract</h3><div><figure><div><div><picture><source><img></source></picture></div></div></figure></div></div>","PeriodicalId":563,"journal":{"name":"Food and Environmental Virology","volume":"16 3","pages":"1 - 22"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12560-024-09594-3.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140636722","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}