The ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been a public health emergency of international concern. Although SARS-CoV-2 is considered to be mainly transmitted by inhalation of contaminated droplets and aerosols, SARS-CoV-2 is also detected in human faeces and to a less extent in urine, and in raw wastewaters (to date viral RNA only) suggesting that other routes of infection may exist. Monitoring SARS-CoV-2 genomes in wastewaters has been proposed as a complementary approach for tracing the dynamics of virus transmission within human population connected to wastewater network. The understanding on SARS-CoV-2 transmission through wastewater surveillance, the development of epidemic modeling and the evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from contaminated wastewater are largely limited by our knowledge on viral RNA genome persistence and virus infectivity preservation in such an environment. Using an integrity based RT-qPCR assay this study led to the discovery that SARS-CoV-2 RNA can persist under several forms in wastewaters, which provides important information on the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in raw wastewaters and associated risk assessment.

Background: Variola virus (family Poxviridae, genusOrthopoxvirus) and the closely related cowpox, vaccinia, and monkeypox viruses can infect humans. Efforts are mounting to replenish the smallpox vaccine stocks, optimize diagnostic methods for poxviruses, and develop new antivirals against smallpox, because it is feared that variola virus might be used as a weapon of bioterrorism. Methods: We developed an assay for the detection of variola virus DNA. The assay is based on TaqMan chemistry targeting the 14-kD protein gene. For the 1st stage of the assay we used genus consensus primers and a mixture of 2 probes (14-kD POX and 14-kD VAR) spanning the 14-kD protein-encoding gene for detection of all human pathogenic orthopoxviruses. We then tested positive samples with the specific orthopoxvirusspecific probe 14-kD POX to identify monkeypox, cowpox, and vaccinia viruses and with the 14-kD VAR probe to identify variola viruses. The assay was established on 4 different PCR cycler platforms. It was assessed in a study with 85 different orthopoxvirus species and strains that included variola, camelpox, cowpox, monkeypox, and vaccinia viruses at concentrations ranging from 100 ng/L to 1 g/L. Results: The assay detected as little as 0.05 fg of DNA, corresponding to 25 copies of DNA, and enabled differentiation of variola virus from the other orthopoxviruses. Conclusions: This real-time PCR assay provides a rapid method for the early detection and differentiation of

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We investigated 4 related human cases of cowpox virus infection reported in France during 2011. Three patients were infected by the same strain, probably transmitted by imported pet rats, and the fourth patient was infected by another strain. The 2 strains were genetically related to viruses previously isolated from humans with cowpox infection in Europe.

Rift Valley fever virus, a phlebovirus endemic in Africa, causes serious diseases in ruminants and humans. Due to the high probability of new outbreaks and spread to other continents where competent vectors are present, vaccine development is an urgent priority as no licensed vaccines are available outside areas of endemicity. In this study, we evaluated in sheep the protective immunity induced by DNA vaccines encoding the extracellular portion of the Gn antigen which was either or not targeted to antigen-presenting cells. The DNA encoding untargeted antigen was the most potent at inducing IgG responses, although not neutralizing, and conferred a significant clinical and virological protection upon infectious challenge, superior to DNA vaccines encoding the targeted antigen. A statistical analysis of the challenge parameters supported that the anti-eGn IgG, rather than the T-cell response, was instrumental in protection. Altogether, this work shows that a DNA vaccine encoding the extracellular portion of the Gn antigen confers substantial—although incomplete—protective immunity in sheep, a natural host with high preclinical relevance, and provides some insights into key immune correlates useful for further vaccine improvements against the Rift Valley fever virus.