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Case Reports
. 2020 Feb 24;35(7):e84.
doi: 10.3346/jkms.2020.35.e84.

Virus Isolation from the First Patient with SARS-CoV-2 in Korea

Wan Beom Park #  1   2 , Nak Jung Kwon #  3 , Su Jin Choi  2 , Chang Kyung Kang  1 , Pyoeng Gyun Choe  1 , Jin Yong Kim  4 , Jiyoung Yun  3 , Gir Won Lee  3 , Moon Woo Seong  5 , Nam Joong Kim  1   2 , Jeong Sun Seo  3   6 , Myoung Don Oh  1   7
Affiliations
Case Reports

Virus Isolation from the First Patient with SARS-CoV-2 in Korea

Wan Beom Park et al. J Korean Med Sci. .

Abstract

Novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is found to cause a large outbreak started from Wuhan since December 2019 in China and SARS-CoV-2 infections have been reported with epidemiological linkage to China in 25 countries until now. We isolated SARS-CoV-2 from the oropharyngeal sample obtained from the patient with the first laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in Korea. Cytopathic effects of SARS-CoV-2 in the Vero cell cultures were confluent 3 days after the first blind passage of the sample. Coronavirus was confirmed with spherical particle having a fringe reminiscent of crown on transmission electron microscopy. Phylogenetic analyses of whole genome sequences showed that it clustered with other SARS-CoV-2 reported from Wuhan.

Keywords: 2019 Novel Coronavirus; Culture; Korea; Microscopy, Electron; Phylogeny.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Cytopathic effects of SARS-CoV-2 in Vero cell cultures and electron microscopy image of SARS-CoV-2. Vero cells were inoculated with oropharyngeal swab sample. (A) Vero cell cultures in negative control. (B) Cytopathic effects consisting of rounding and detachment of cells in Vero cell cultures 3 days after the first blind passage. (C, D) Transmission electron microscopy image of Vero cells infected with SARS-CoV-2. White arrow head denotes nuclear membrane, black arrow head extracellular virus particles, and thin black arrow cytoplasmic vesicle including virus components (C). Thick black arrow denotes magnified virus particles with crown-like spikes (D).
SARS = severe acute respiratory syndrome, CoV = coronavirus.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Phylogenetic analysis of full-length genomes of SARS-CoV-2 including our isolate and other representative beta-CoVs.
SARS = severe acute respiratory syndrome, CoV = coronavirus, MERS = Middle East respiratory syndrome.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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