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. 2023 Mar;29(3):658-661.
doi: 10.3201/eid2903.220915.

SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Hippopotamus, Hanoi, Vietnam

Vuong Nghia Bui, Tung Duy Dao, Long Hoang Tran, Thanh Thi Vu, Trang Huyen Nguyen, Giang Hoang Nguyen, Kien Viet Dung Tran, Huyen Xuan Nguyen, Anh Ngoc Bui, Fred Unger, Hung Nguyen-Viet, Hu Suk Lee

SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Hippopotamus, Hanoi, Vietnam

Vuong Nghia Bui et al. Emerg Infect Dis. 2023 Mar.

Abstract

While investigating the death of a hippopotamus at a zoo in Hanoi, Vietnam, we isolated SARS-CoV-2 and sequenced the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase gene from different organs. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the SARS-CoV-2 strain was closely related to 3 human SARS-CoV-2 strains in Vietnam.

Keywords: COVID-19; Dao TD; Hanoi; Nguyen GH; Nguyen TH; SARS-CoV-2; Suggested citation for this article: Bui VN; Tran LH; Vietnam; Vietnam. Emerg Infect Dis. 2023 Mar [date cited]. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2903.220915; Vu TT; et al. SARS-CoV-2 infection in a hippopotamus; hippopotamus; respiratory infections; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; viruses; zoonoses.

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Figures

Figure
Figure
Maximum-likelihood tree constructed for 600-bp RNA-dependent RNA polymerase gene SARS-CoV-2 nucleotide sequences from a hippopotamus (red circle) and 3 human SARS-CoV-2 strains from COVID-19 patients in Vietnam (red triangles) compared with reference betacoronavirus strains obtained from GenBank. Betacoronavirus lineages are indicated on the right of the figure. Scale bar denotes evolutionary distance. MERS, Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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