Advances in Virology最新文献

{"title":"Isolation and Molecular Characterization of Peste des Petits Ruminants Virus from Outbreaks in Southern Ethiopia, 2020","authors":"Abdeally Mohammed, T. R. Chibssa, Waktole Terfa, F. Aklilu, Delesa Damena, Redeat Belayneh, Menbere Kidane","doi":"10.1155/2022/5329898","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/5329898","url":null,"abstract":"Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is one of the most important transboundary diseases of small ruminants. In this study, nasal and oral swabs (n = 24) were collected from sheep (n = 7) and goats (n = 17) with clinical signs in southern Ethiopia in March 2020. PPR virus was isolated on Vero dog cells expressing the signaling lymphocyte activation molecule (VDS) and screened using RT-qPCR. Positive samples were confirmed by conventional RT-PCR followed by sequencing of a partial nucleoprotein (N) gene segment. Results revealed that 54% (n = 13/24) of the tested samples were PPRV-positive Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the viruses belonged to lineage IV and lineage II. The lineage IV viruses were similar, although not identical, to other lineage IV viruses previously reported in Ethiopia and other East African countries while the lineage II viruses have been reported for the first time in Ethiopia showed a high nucleotide identity (99.06%) with the vaccine (Nigeria 75/1) that is currently used in Ethiopia for the prevention of PPR. Further investigations are therefore recommended in order to fully understand the true nature of the lineage II PPRVs in Ethiopia.","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49464019","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rational Primer and Probe Construction in PCR-Based Assays for the Efficient Diagnosis of Drifting Variants of SARS-CoV-2.","authors":"Divya Rsjb Rana, Nischal Pokhrel, Santosh Dulal","doi":"10.1155/2022/2965666","DOIUrl":"10.1155/2022/2965666","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The genome sequence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been evolving via genomic drifts resulting in \"emerging/drifting variants\" circulating worldwide. The construction of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays for the reliable, efficient, and specific diagnosis of the drifting variants of SARS-CoV-2 is specifically governed by the selection and construction of primers and probes. The efficiency of molecular diagnosis is impacted by the identity/homology of the genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2 with other coronaviruses, drifting variants or variants of concern (VOCs) circulating in communities, inherent capacity of mutation(s) of various target genes of SARS-CoV-2, and concentration of genes of interest in host cells. The precise amplicon selection and construction of primers and probes for PCR-based assays can efficiently discriminate specific SARS-CoV-2 drifting variants. The construction of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-specific primers and probes for PCR assays is pivotal to specifically distinguish SARS-CoV-2 variants present in the communities and contributes to better diagnosis and prevention of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we have utilized <i>in silico</i>-based bioinformatic tools where the alignment for genes, the positions and types of SNPs/mutations of VOCs, and the relative number of SNPs per nucleotide in different genomic regions were investigated. Optimal and specific genome region (amplicon) selection with comparatively lower mutability in the SARS-CoV-2 genome should be prioritized to design/construct PCR assays for reliable and consistent diagnosis in various regions of the world for a longer duration of time. Further, the rational selection of target genes that is at an optimal detectable concentration in biological samples can bolster PCR assays of high analytical sensitivity. Hence, the construction of primers and probes with the rational selection of targeting specific E gene, genomic regions with highly conserved sequences, multiple target genes with relatively lower mutability and detectable level of concentration, SNP-specific binding regions of spike (S gene) protein, and shorter amplicon size (100-150 bp) are vital for the PCR assays to achieve optimal efficiency in the point-of-care laboratory diagnosis of circulating drifting variants of SARS-CoV-2 with optimal accuracy.</p>","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9122727/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46716989","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Diagnostic Performance of SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test in relation to RT-PCR C_q Value.","authors":"Dipendra Kumar Mandal, Bibek Raj Bhattarai, Sushant Pokhrel, Mandira Chhusyabaga, Parmananda Bhandari, Mahendra Prasad Bhatt, Sujan Babu Marhattha","doi":"10.1155/2022/9245248","DOIUrl":"10.1155/2022/9245248","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Early detection of the SARS-CoV-2 is crucial for both the improvement of turnaround time and limiting the spread of the virus in the community. Thus, this study aims to establish rapid antigen tests as an effective diagnostic tool to improve the testing strategies of COVID-19 diagnosis.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A laboratory based cross-sectional study was performed on the patients that visited Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital (STIDH) in Kathmandu, Nepal, from November 2020 to January 2021. A total of 213 nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients for rapid antigen test, followed by RT-PCR assay as reference test for confirmation of COVID-19. A standard questionnaire was administered to collect other information from patients. Data were collected and analyzed using SPSS version 20.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Out of 213 individuals, 75 tested positive in Ag-RDT test, while 118 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA genome via Real time PCR assay. The overall diagnostic performance of Ag-RDT showed 63.6% sensitivity and 97.9% specificity. The diagnostic accuracy of Ag- RDT was 78.9% with <i>κ</i> value 0.590, showing moderate agreement with RT-PCR. Significant difference (<i>p</i> value <0.001) was observed between Ag- RDT⁺ and Ag- RDT^- results when compared to C_q values obtained from RT- PCR.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The promising performance of Ag-RDT renders it useful as screening tool alongside RT-PCR to reduce transmission via improving contact tracing, implementation of local mitigation strategies, and refining existing testing protocol for diagnosis of COVID-19.</p>","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-05-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9113911/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45271273","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Association of Septic Shock with Mortality in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients in Wuhan, China","authors":"Shaoqiu Chen, Zitong Gao, Ling Hu, Y. Zuo, Yuanyuan Fu, Meilin Wei, Emory Zitello, G. Huang, Youping Deng","doi":"10.1155/2022/3178283","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/3178283","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose Septic shock is a severe complication of COVID-19 patients. We aim to identify risk factors associated with septic shock and mortality among COVID-19 patients. Methods A total of 212 COVID-19 confirmed patients in Wuhan were included in this retrospective study. Clinical outcomes were designated as nonseptic shock and septic shock. Log-rank test was conducted to determine any association with clinical progression. A prediction model was established using random forest. Results The mortality of septic shock and nonshock patients with COVID-19 was 96.7% (29/30) and 3.8% (7/182). Patients taking hypnotics had a much lower chance to develop septic shock (HR = 0.096, p=0.0014). By univariate logistic regression analysis, 40 risk factors were significantly associated with septic shock. Based on multiple regression analysis, eight risk factors were shown to be independent risk factors and these factors were then selected to build a model to predict septic shock with AUC = 0.956. These eight factors included disease severity (HR = 15, p < 0.001), age > 65 years (HR = 2.6, p=0.012), temperature > 39.1°C (HR = 2.9, p=0.047), white blood cell count > 10 × 10⁹ (HR = 6.9, p < 0.001), neutrophil count > 75 × 10⁹ (HR = 2.4, p=0.022), creatine kinase > 5 U/L (HR = 1.8, p=0.042), glucose > 6.1 mmol/L (HR = 7, p < 0.001), and lactate > 2 mmol/L (HR = 22, p < 0.001). Conclusions We found 40 risk factors were significantly associated with septic shock. The model contained eight independent factors that can accurately predict septic shock. The administration of hypnotics could potentially reduce the incidence of septic shock in COVID-19 patients.","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42832709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Role of Apoptosis in HIV Pathogenesis","authors":"Cyril Jabea Ekabe, Njinju Asaba Clinton, Eugene Kusi Agyei, Jules Kehbila","doi":"10.1155/2022/8148119","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/8148119","url":null,"abstract":"The apoptotic pathway is an important cell death pathway that contributes to the maintenance of homeostasis in living systems. However, variations in apoptosis have been linked to many diseases such as cancers and chronic infections. The HIV infection has contributed to increase mortality and morbidity worldwide, predominantly through the induction of gradual depletion of CD4+ T cells. The induction and mediation of both the intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways are crucial in HIV pathogenesis and intracellular survival. Consequently, a deep molecular understanding of how apoptosis is induced and modulated in HIV-mediated CD4+ T cell depletion is paramount, as this can lead to new portals of therapeutic intervention and control.","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64786704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection Modeled in Aging Cotton Rats (<i>Sigmodon hispidus</i>) and Mice (<i>Mus musculus</i>).","authors":"Olivia E Harder,&nbsp;Stefan Niewiesk","doi":"10.1155/2022/8637545","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/8637545","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Serious infection with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is associated with high risk in infants, children, and elderly. There is currently no approved vaccine against RSV infection, and the only available prevention is immunoprophylaxis utilized in high-risk infants, leaving the elderly without many options. In the elderly, the chronic low-grade inflammatory state of the body can play a significant role during infection. The cotton rat and mouse have emerged as the preferred small animal models to study RSV infection in the elderly. These animal models of aging have shown an age-dependent time course for clearance of virus correlating with a significantly diminished cytotoxic T lymphocyte and humoral immune response in old animals compared to adult animals. In addition, protection through vaccination is reduced in aging rodents. These results mirror the findings in humans. In mice and cotton rats, treatment with ibuprofen, a nonselective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), to decrease the chronic low-grade inflammation of the elderly immune system has proven successful in restoring the function of cytotoxic lymphocytes. While more research is required, these treatment types promise a beneficial effect in addition to a putative vaccine. Choosing an appropriate animal model to study RSV infection in the aging immune system is essential to benefit the growing population of elderly in the world. This review focuses on the current research of RSV infection in the cotton rat and mouse as model systems for an aging immune system.</p>","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8926466/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40307580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) Pandemic: Are Africa's Prevalence and Mortality Rates Relatively Low?","authors":"Solomon H Mariam","doi":"10.1155/2022/3387784","DOIUrl":"10.1155/2022/3387784","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the cause of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19), has been rapidly spreading since December 2019, and within a few months, it turned out to be a global pandemic. The disease affects primarily the lungs, but its pathogenesis spreads to other organs as well. However, its mortality rates vary, and in the majority of infected people, there are no serious consequences. Many factors including advanced age, preexisting health conditions, and genetic predispositions are believed to exacerbate outcomes of COVID-19. The virus contains several structural proteins including the spike (S) protein with subunits for binding, fusion, and internalization into host cells following interaction with host cell receptors and proteases (ACE2 and TMPRSS2, respectively) to cause the subsequent pathology. Although the pandemic has spread into all countries, most of Africa is thought of as having relatively less prevalence and mortality. Several hypotheses have been forwarded as reasons for this and include warmer weather conditions, vaccination with BCG (i.e., trained immunity), and previous malaria infection. From genetics or metabolic points of view, it has been proposed that most African populations could be protected to some degree because they lack some genetic susceptibility risk factors or have low-level expression of allelic variants, such as ACE2 and TMPRSS2 that are thought to be involved in increased infection risk or disease severity. The frequency of occurrence of <i>α</i>-1 antitrypsin (an inhibitor of a tissue-degrading protease, thereby protecting target host tissues including the lung) deficiency is also reported to be low in most African populations. More recently, infections in Africa appear to be on the rise. In general, there are few studies on the epidemiology and pathogenesis of the disease in African contexts, and the overall costs and human life losses due to the pandemic in Africa will be determined by all factors and conditions interacting in complex ways.</p>","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8898136/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42485162","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Investigating Viral Inoculation and Recovery from Medical Masks","authors":"Mark C Wilkinson, J. Carney","doi":"10.1155/2022/3173883","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/3173883","url":null,"abstract":"The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic from 2019 onwards has significantly increased the usage of surgical style medical masks, both in healthcare and public settings. It is important to study the contamination of and viral transfer from such masks. However, accepted standard test methods such as ISO 18184 have prescribed inoculation methods which may not be fully representative of the type of viral insult experienced in the clinic or community. In addition to studying a conventional mask, the performance of a mask featuring an antimicrobial photosensitiser was also studied.","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44461608","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Antiretroviral (ARV) Drug Resistance and HIV-1 Subtypes among Injecting Drug Users in the Coastal Region of Kenya.","authors":"Gabriel O Ng'ong'a,&nbsp;George Ayodo,&nbsp;Fanuel Kawaka,&nbsp;Veronicah Knight,&nbsp;Musa Ngayo,&nbsp;Raphael M Lwembe","doi":"10.1155/2022/3217749","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/3217749","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>HIV-1 genetic diversity results into the development of widespread drug-resistant mutations (DRMs) for the first-line retroviral therapy. Nevertheless, few studies have investigated the relationship between DRMs and HIV-1 subtypes among HIV-positive injecting drug users (IDUs). This study therefore determined the association between HIV-1 genotypes and DRMs among the 200 IDUs. Stanford HIV Drug Resistance Database was used to interpret DRMs. The five HIV-1 genotypes circulating among the IDUs were A₁ (25 (53.2%)), A₂ (2 (4.3%)), B (2 (4.3%)), C (9 (19.1%)), and D (9 (19.1%)). The proportions of DRMs were A₁ (12 (52.2%)), A₂ (1 (4.3%)), B (0 (0.0%)), C (5 (21.7%)), and D (5 (21.7%)). Due to the large proportion of drug resistance across all HIV-1 subtypes, surveillance and behavioral studies need to be explored as IDUs may be spreading the drug resistance to the general population. In addition, further characterization of DRMs including all the relevant clinical parameters among the larger population of IDUs is critical for effective drug resistance surveillance.</p>","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8853818/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39636345","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Real-Life Use of Tocilizumab in the Treatment of Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia.","authors":"Ruth Alex,&nbsp;Shabaz Mohiuddin Gulam,&nbsp;Kiran Kumar","doi":"10.1155/2022/7060466","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/7060466","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can progress to severe respiratory compromise and lead to mortality due to induction of cytokine storm. Tocilizumab (TCZ) is approved by the FDA for the treatment of cytokine release syndrome (CRS). This study aims to analyze the outcomes among patients who received TCZ in the United Arab Emirates.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A retrospective cohort study was conducted among COVID-19 patients who received TCZ in a tertiary care hospital from May 2020 to August 2021. For analysis, patients were divided into two groups based on survival and clinical improvement.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Overall, 80% of patients receiving TCZ were discharged by day 28. There was a gradual improvement in oxygen requirements in our patients with a majority of them on room air by day 28. Age more than 50 years (<i>P</i>=0.034) and comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) (<i>P</i>=0.002) and renal insufficiency (<i>P</i>=0.013) were significantly associated with mortality. <i>Discussion</i>. In our analysis, patients who were mechanically ventilated at the time of administration of TCZ had a significantly higher risk of death by day 28. In both survived and improved groups, younger patients had better outcomes than older patients. Patients who received TCZ earlier during therapy from the onset of symptoms had better survival outcomes. There was only one death among 14 patients who received vaccination. There was no significant difference in mortality among patients with comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, obesity, and pulmonary diseases, hypothesizing that administration of TCZ improves the outcomes in COVID-19 patients with these comorbidities.</p>","PeriodicalId":7473,"journal":{"name":"Advances in Virology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9203205/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9174429","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}