scholarly journals Performance Assessment of SARS-CoV-2 PCR Assays Developed by WHO Referral Laboratories

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1871 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibyle Etievant ◽  
Antonin Bal ◽  
Vanessa Escuret ◽  
Karen Brengel-Pesce ◽  
Maude Bouscambert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cell Culture ◽  
World Health ◽  
Diagnostic Assay ◽  
Rt Pcr ◽  
Molecular Approaches ◽  
The World ◽  
Pcr Assays ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Culture Supernatants

A reliable diagnostic assay is crucial to early detect new COVID-19 cases and limit severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization has published several diagnostic molecular approaches developed by referral laboratories, including Charité (Germany), HKU (Hong Kong), China CDC (China), US CDC (United States), and Institut Pasteur, Paris (France). We aimed to compare the sensitivity and specificity of these different RT-PCR assays using SARS-CoV-2 cell culture supernatants and clinical respiratory samples. Overall, the different RT-PCR assays performed well for SARS-CoV-2 detection and were all specific except the N Charité (Germany), and N2 US CDC (United States) assays. RdRp Institut Pasteur (IP2, IP4), N China CDC, and N1 US CDC were found to be the most sensitive assays. The data presented herein are of prime importance to facilitate the equipment choice of diagnostic laboratories, as well as for the development of marketed tests.

scholarly journals Sensitivity assessment of SARS-CoV-2 PCR assays developed by WHO referral laboratories

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibyle Etievant ◽  
Antonin Bal ◽  
Vanessa Escuret ◽  
Karen Brengel–Pesce ◽  
Maude Bouscambert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cell Culture ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Rt Pcr ◽  
Sensitivity Assessment ◽  
Pcr Assays ◽  
Culture Supernatants

AbstractThe sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR tests developed by Charité (Germany), HKU (Hong-Kong), China CDC (China), US CDC (United-States), and Institut Pasteur, Paris (France) was assessed on SARS-CoV-2 cell culture supernatants and clinical samples. Although all RT-PCR assays performed well for SARS-CoV-2 detection, RdRp Institut Pasteur (IP2, IP4), N China CDC, and N1 US CDC were found to be the most sensitive.

Concentration and detection of SARS coronavirus in sewage from Xiao Tang Shan hospital and the 309th Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army

2005 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 213-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
X.W. Wang ◽  
J. Li ◽  
T. Guo ◽  
B. Zhen ◽  
Q. Kong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Culture ◽  
Nucleic Acid ◽  
World Health ◽  
Laboratory Studies ◽  
Rt Pcr ◽  
People's Liberation Army ◽  
The World ◽  
People’S Liberation Army ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Close Contacts

A worldwide outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) had been reported. Over 8439 SARS cases and 812 SARS-related deaths were reported to the World Health Organization from 32 countries around the world up to 5 July 2003. The mechanism of transmission of SARS-CoV has been limited only to close contacts with patients. Attention was focused on possible transmission by the sewage system because laboratory studies showed that patients excreted coronavirus RNA in their stools in Amoy Gardens in Hong Kong. To explore whether the stool of SARS patients or the sewage containing the stool of patients would transmit SARS-CoV or not, we used a style of electropositive filter media particle to concentrate the SARS-CoV from the sewage of two hospitals receiving SARS patients in Beijing, as well as cell culture, semi-nested RT–PCR and sequencing of genes to detect and identify the viruses from sewage. There was no live SARS-CoV detected in the sewage in these assays. The nucleic acid of SARS-CoV was found in the sewage before disinfection from both hospitals by PCR. After disinfection, SARS-CoV RNA could be detected from some samples from the 309th Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, but not from Xiao Tang Shan Hospital after disinfection. In this study, we found that the virus can survive for 14 days in sewage at 4°C, 2 days at 20°C, and its RNA can be detected for 8 days though the virus had been inactivated. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that the RNA of SARS-CoV could be detected from the concentrates of sewage of both hospitals receiving SARS patients before disinfection and occasionally after disinfection though there was no live SARS-CoV; thus much attention should be paid to the treatment of stools of patients and the sewage of hospitals receiving SARS patients.

The Ethics of COVID-19 Vaccine Passports

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Joseph Meaney ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
The United States ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
World Health ◽  
Medical Decisions ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Divided Society ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

COVID-19 vaccine passports run the risk of creating a divided society where social privileges or restrictions based on “fitness” lead to discrimination based on immunization status. Individuals have a strong right to be free of coercion to take a COVID-19 vaccine, and we should be very leery of further invasion of private medical decisions. These concerns are shared both internationally and in the United States, and the World Health Organization, the Biden administration, and many US governors oppose COVID-19 vaccine credentials. In addition, regulations for COVID-19 vaccine credentials face practical barriers, including lack of access globally, especially among the poor; and lack of scientific data on the efficacy of these vaccines.

Annual Summary of Vital Statistics—1976

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 797-804
Author(s):  
Myron E. Wegman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Nations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vital Statistics ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Statistics ◽  
The World ◽  
States Data ◽  
International Data ◽  
Health Organization

Data for this article, as in previous reports,1 are drawn principally from the Monthly Vital Statistics Report,2-5 published by the National Center for Health Statistics. The international data come from the Demographic Yearbook6 and the quarterly Population and Vital Statistics Report,7 both published by the Statistical Office of the United Nations, and the World Health Statistics Report,8 published by the World Health Organization. All the United States data for 1976 are estimates by place of occurrence based upon a 10% sample of material received in state offices between two dates, one month apart, regardless of when the event occurred. Experience has shown that for the country as a whole the estimate is very close to the subsequent final figures.

An Education Platform for Awareness and Prevention of Obesity Epidemic Among Children and Adolescents

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Majidreza M. Kazempour
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health It ◽  
Obesity Epidemic ◽  
Health And Nutrition ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Education Platform ◽  
Overweight Adults

Obesity is now replacing undernutrition and infectious diseases as the leading cause of ill health. It is considered as one of the greatest medical challenges to health in the United States; over 65% of American adults are either overweight or obese leading to 320,000 deaths each year in the United States (Kopelman, 2005). The annual medical costs of obesity in the United States are enormous (Bhattacharya and Bundorf, 2009). Globally, according to the World Health Organization, there are more than one billion overweight adults, of which at least 300 million are clinically obese. A recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data (2003–2006) has showed that for children aged 6–11 years and 12–19 years, the prevalence of overweight was 17.0% and 17.6%, respectively.

scholarly journals Presence of mismatches between diagnostic PCR assays and coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 genome

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 200636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kashif Aziz Khan ◽  
Peter Cheung
Keyword(s):  
World Health ◽  
Current Standard ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Diagnostic Pcr ◽  
Diagnostic Assays ◽  
The World ◽  
Polymerase Chain ◽  
Pcr Assays ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Viral Sequences

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; initially named as 2019-nCoV) is responsible for the recent COVID-19 pandemic and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the current standard method for its diagnosis from patient samples. This study conducted a reassessment of published diagnostic PCR assays, including those recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), through the evaluation of mismatches with publicly available viral sequences. An exhaustive evaluation of the sequence variability within the primer/probe target regions of the viral genome was performed using more than 17 000 viral sequences from around the world. The analysis showed the presence of mutations/mismatches in primer/probe binding regions of 7 assays out of 27 assays studied. A comprehensive bioinformatics approach for in silico inclusivity evaluation of PCR diagnostic assays of SARS-CoV-2 was validated using freely available software programs that can be applied to any diagnostic assay of choice. These findings provide potentially important information for clinicians, laboratory professionals and policy-makers.

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