Retrospective Detection of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Symptomatic Patients Prior to Widespread Diagnostic Testing in Southern California. (3rd May 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hilt, Evann E; Boocock, James; Trejo, Marisol; Le, Catherine Q; Guo, Longhua; Zhang, Yi; Sathe, Laila; Arboleda, Valerie A; Yin, Yi; Bloom, Joshua S; Wang, Pin-Chieh; Elmore, Joann G; Kruglyak, Leonid; Shrestha, Lasata; Bakhash, Shah A Mohamed; Lin, Michelle; Xie, Hong; Huang, Meei-Li; Roychoudhury, Pavitra; Greninger, Alexander; Chandrasekaran, Sukantha; Yang, Shangxin; Garner, Omai B
• Is Part Of: Clinical infectious diseases. Volume 74:Number 2(2022)
• Page Start: 271
• Page End: 277
• Publication Date: 2021-05-03
• Subjects: SARS-CoV-2 -- diagnostic testing; Communicable diseases -- Periodicals; 616.905
• DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciab360
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1058-4838

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused one of the worst pandemics in recent history. Few reports have revealed that SARS-CoV-2 was spreading in the United States as early as the end of January. In this study, we aimed to determine if SARS-CoV-2 had been circulating in the Los Angeles (LA) area at a time when access to diagnostic testing for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was severely limited. Methods: We used a pooling strategy to look for SARS-CoV-2 in remnant respiratory samples submitted for regular respiratory pathogen testing from symptomatic patients from November 2019 to early March 2020. We then performed sequencing on the positive samples. Results: We detected SARS-CoV-2 in 7 specimens from 6 patients, dating back to mid-January. The earliest positive patient, with a sample collected on January 13, 2020 had no relevant travel history but did have a sibling with similar symptoms. Sequencing of these SARS-CoV-2 genomes revealed that the virus was introduced into the LA area from both domestic and international sources as early as January. Conclusions: We present strong evidence of community spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the LA area well before widespread diagnostic testing was being performed in early 2020. These genomic data demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 was being introduced into Los Angeles County from both international and domestic sources in January 2020. Abstract : We conducted a study of retrospective detection and sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 in symptomatic patients that reveals introduction in Los Angeles from both domestic and international sources in middle to late January, well before widespread diagnostic testing was being performed.