Detection of the new SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 in five SARS-CoV-2
      rapid antigen tests (RATs), Germany, March 2021

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Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) should not escape molecular surveillance. We investigated if SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen tests (RATs) could detect B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 VOCs in certain laboratory conditions. Infectious cell culture supernatants containing B.1.1.7, B.1.351 or non-VOC SARS-CoV-2 were respectively diluted both in DMEM and saliva. Dilutions were analysed with Roche, Siemens, Abbott, nal von minden and RapiGEN RATs. While further studies with appropriate real-life clinical samples are warranted, all RATs detected B.1.1.7 and B.1.351, generally comparable to non-VOC strain.

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Virological assessment of hospitalized patients with COVID-2019

Roman Wölfel, Victor M Corman, Wolfgang Guggemos … (2020)

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an acute infection of the respiratory tract that emerged in late 20191,2. Initial outbreaks in China involved 13.8% of cases with severe courses, and 6.1% of cases with critical courses3. This severe presentation may result from the virus using a virus receptor that is expressed predominantly in the lung2,4; the same receptor tropism is thought to have determined the pathogenicity-but also aided in the control-of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 20035. However, there are reports of cases of COVID-19 in which the patient shows mild upper respiratory tract symptoms, which suggests the potential for pre- or oligosymptomatic transmission6-8. There is an urgent need for information on virus replication, immunity and infectivity in specific sites of the body. Here we report a detailed virological analysis of nine cases of COVID-19 that provides proof of active virus replication in tissues of the upper respiratory tract. Pharyngeal virus shedding was very high during the first week of symptoms, with a peak at 7.11 × 108 RNA copies per throat swab on day 4. Infectious virus was readily isolated from samples derived from the throat or lung, but not from stool samples-in spite of high concentrations of virus RNA. Blood and urine samples never yielded virus. Active replication in the throat was confirmed by the presence of viral replicative RNA intermediates in the throat samples. We consistently detected sequence-distinct virus populations in throat and lung samples from one patient, proving independent replication. The shedding of viral RNA from sputum outlasted the end of symptoms. Seroconversion occurred after 7 days in 50% of patients (and by day 14 in all patients), but was not followed by a rapid decline in viral load. COVID-19 can present as a mild illness of the upper respiratory tract. The confirmation of active virus replication in the upper respiratory tract has implications for the containment of COVID-19.

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Rethinking Covid-19 Test Sensitivity — A Strategy for Containment

Michael Mina, Roy Parker, Daniel Larremore (2020)

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The Comparative Clinical Performance of Four SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Tests and Their Correlation to Infectivity In Vitro

Niko Kohmer, Tuna Toptan, Christiane Pallas … (2021)

Due to globally rising numbers of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections, resources for real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR)-based testing have been exhausted. In order to meet the demands of testing and reduce transmission, SARS-CoV-2 antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic tests (Ag-RDTs) are being considered. These tests are fast, inexpensive, and simple to use, but whether they detect potentially infectious cases has not been well studied. We evaluated three lateral flow assays (RIDA®QUICK SARS-CoV-2 Antigen (R-Biopharm), SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test (Roche)), and NADAL® COVID-19 Ag Test (Nal von Minden GmbH, Regensburg, Germany) and one microfluidic immunofluorescence assay (SARS-CoV-2 Ag Test (LumiraDx GmbH, Cologne, Germany)) using 100 clinical samples. Diagnostic rRT-PCR and cell culture testing as a marker for infectivity were performed in parallel. The overall Ag-RDT sensitivity for rRT-PCR-positive samples ranged from 24.3% to 50%. However, for samples with a viral load of more than 6 log10 RNA copies/mL (22/100), typically seen in infectious individuals, Ag-RDT positivity was between 81.8% and 100%. Only 51.6% (33/64) of the rRT-PCR-positive samples were infectious in cell culture. In contrast, three Ag-RDTs demonstrated a more significant correlation with cell culture infectivity (61.8–82.4%). Our findings suggest that large-scale SARS-CoV-2 Ag-RDT-based testing can be considered for detecting potentially infective individuals and reducing the virus spread.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Euro Surveill

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Euro Surveill

Journal ID (publisher-id): eurosurveillance

Title: Eurosurveillance

Publisher: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)

ISSN (Print): 1025-496X

ISSN (Electronic): 1560-7917

Publication date (Print): 22 April 2021

Volume: 26

Issue: 16

Electronic Location Identifier: 2100413

Affiliations

[1 ]Public Health Microbiology Unit, Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Oberschleißheim, Germany

[2 ]These authors contributed equally to this work

[3 ]Unit of molecular biologic analytics and biogenetics, Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Oberschleißheim, Germany

[4 ]Ludwig Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany

[5 ]Bavarian State Institute of Health, Oberschleißheim, Germany

[6 ]Members of the Bavarian SARS-CoV-Public Health Laboratory Team are listed below

Author notes

Correspondence: Volker Fingerle ( volker.fingerle@ 123456lgl.bayern.de )

Article

Publisher ID: 2100413 Publisher ID: 2100413

DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.16.2100413

PMC ID: 8063588

PubMed ID: 33890568

SO-VID: fe5a5a8b-855c-4c03-9a62-dea0eba51326

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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) Licence. You may share and adapt the material, but must give appropriate credit to the source, provide a link to the licence, and indicate if changes were made.

History

Date received : 12 April 2021

Date accepted : 22 April 2021

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Keywords: sars-cov-2,rapid antigen test(s),variant(s) of concern,performance,b.1.1.7,b.1.351

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Keywords: sars-cov-2, rapid antigen test(s), variant(s) of concern, performance, b.1.1.7, b.1.351

Detection of the new SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 in five SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen tests (RATs), Germany, March 2021

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Novel Coronavirus Disease COVID-19

Most cited references 6

Virological assessment of hospitalized patients with COVID-2019

Rethinking Covid-19 Test Sensitivity — A Strategy for Containment

The Comparative Clinical Performance of Four SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Tests and Their Correlation to Infectivity In Vitro

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