Isolation of infectious SARS-CoV-2 from urine of a COVID-19 patient

Jing Sun; Airu Zhu; Heying Li; Kui Zheng; Zhen Zhuang; Zhao Chen; Yongxia Shi; Zhaoyong Zhang; Si-Bei Chen; Xuesong Liu; Jun Dai; Xiaobo Li; Shuxiang Huang; Xiaofang Huang; Ling Luo; Liyan Wen; Jianfen Zhuo; Yuming Li; Yanqun Wang; Lu Zhang; Yanjun Zhang; Fang Li; Liqiang Feng; Xinwen Chen; Nanshan Zhong; Zifeng Yang; Jicheng Huang; Jincun Zhao; Yi-Min Li

doi:10.1080/22221751.2020.1760144

Isolation of infectious SARS-CoV-2 from urine of a COVID-19 patient

Emerg Microbes Infect. 2020 Dec;9(1):991-993. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2020.1760144.

Authors

Jing Sun¹, Airu Zhu¹, Heying Li², Kui Zheng³, Zhen Zhuang¹, Zhao Chen¹, Yongxia Shi³, Zhaoyong Zhang¹, Si-Bei Chen¹, Xuesong Liu¹, Jun Dai³, Xiaobo Li³, Shuxiang Huang³, Xiaofang Huang¹, Ling Luo¹, Liyan Wen¹, Jianfen Zhuo¹, Yuming Li¹, Yanqun Wang¹, Lu Zhang^{1

4}, Yanjun Zhang¹, Fang Li¹, Liqiang Feng², Xinwen Chen², Nanshan Zhong¹, Zifeng Yang¹, Jicheng Huang³, Jincun Zhao^{1

4}, Yi-Min Li¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
² State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
³ Guangzhou Customs District Technology Center, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Institute of Infectious disease, Guangzhou Eighth People's Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 caused a major outbreak of severe pneumonia (COVID-19) in humans. Viral RNA was detected in multiple organs in COVID-19 patients. However, infectious SARS-CoV-2 was only isolated from respiratory specimens. Here, infectious SARS-CoV-2 was successfully isolated from urine of a COVID-19 patient. The virus isolated could infect new susceptible cells and was recognized by its' own patient sera. Appropriate precautions should be taken to avoid transmission from urine.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; transmission; urine; virus isolation.

Publication types

Letter

MeSH terms

Aged
Animals
Betacoronavirus / isolation & purification*
COVID-19
Chlorocebus aethiops
Coronavirus Infections / transmission
Coronavirus Infections / urine*
Coronavirus Infections / virology*
Genome, Viral / genetics
Humans
Male
Pandemics
Pneumonia, Viral / transmission
Pneumonia, Viral / urine*
Pneumonia, Viral / virology*
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
SARS-CoV-2
Vero Cells

Grants and funding

This study was approved by the Health Commission of Guangdong Province to use patient’s specimen for this study. This study was funded by grants from The National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFC1200100), National Science and Technology Major Project (2018ZX10301403), the emergency grants for prevention and control of SARS-CoV-2 of Ministry of Science and Technology (2020YFC0841400) and Guangdong province (2020B111108001, 2018B020207013).