Clinical features, isolation, and complete genome sequence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 from the first two patients in Vietnam

J Med Virol. 2020 Oct;92(10):2209-2215. doi: 10.1002/jmv.26075. Epub 2020 Jun 19.

Abstract

In January 2020, we identified two severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-infected patients in a familial cluster with one person coming from Wuhan, China. The complete genome sequences of two SARS-CoV-2 strains isolated from these patients were identical and 99.98% similar to strains isolated in Wuhan. This is genetically suggestive of human-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and indicates Wuhan as the most plausible origin of the early outbreak in Vietnam. The younger patient had a mild upper respiratory illness and a brief viral shedding, whereas the elderly with multi-morbidity had pneumonia, prolonged viral shedding, and residual lung damage. The evidence of nonsynonymous substitutions in the ORF1ab region of the viral sequence warrants further studies.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Vero; complete genome sequencing; coronavirus; respiratory infections.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • COVID-19 / diagnosis
  • COVID-19 / pathology
  • COVID-19 / transmission*
  • COVID-19 / virology
  • China / epidemiology
  • Family
  • Genome, Viral*
  • Genotype
  • Humans
  • Lung / pathology
  • Lung / virology*
  • Male
  • Mutation
  • Phylogeny
  • SARS-CoV-2 / classification
  • SARS-CoV-2 / genetics*
  • SARS-CoV-2 / isolation & purification
  • SARS-CoV-2 / pathogenicity
  • Travel
  • Vietnam / epidemiology
  • Virus Replication
  • Whole Genome Sequencing