We developed a cell culture system and characterized HEV particles; we identified 3 ORF2 capsid proteins (ORF2i, ORF2g, and ORFc). These findings will advance our understanding of the HEV life cycle and improve diagnosis.

A better understanding of the anti-SARS-CoV-2 immune response is necessary to finely evaluate commercial serological assays but also to predict protection against reinfection and to help the development of vaccines. For this reason, we monitored the anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody response in infected patients. In order to assess the time of seroconversion, we used 151 samples from 30 COVID-19 inpatients and monitored the detection kinetics of anti-S1, anti-S2, anti-RBD and anti-N antibodies with inhouse ELISAs. We observed that specific antibodies were detectable in all inpatients 2 weeks post-symptom onset and that the detection of the SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid and RBD was more sensitive than the detection of the S1 or S2 subunits. Using retroviral particles pseudotyped with the spike of the SARS-CoV-2, we also monitored the presence of neutralizing antibodies in these samples as well as 25 samples from asymptomatic individuals that were shown SARS-CoV-2 seropositive using commercial serological tests. Neutralizing antibodies reached a plateau 2 weeks post-symptom onset and then declined in the majority of inpatients but they were undetectable in 56% of asymptomatic patients. Our results indicate that the SARS-CoV-2 does not induce a prolonged neutralizing antibody response. They also suggest that induction of neutralizing antibodies is not the only strategy to adopt for the development of a vaccine. Finally, they imply that anti-SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies should be titrated to optimize convalescent plasma therapy.

Aims Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) is a rapidly progressing pandemic, with four million confirmed cases and 280,000 deaths at the time of writing. Some studies have suggested that diabetes is associated with a greater risk of developing severe forms of COVID‐19. The primary objective of the present study was to compare the clinical features and outcomes in hospitalized COVID‐19 patients with vs. without diabetes. Methods All consecutive adult patients admitted to Amiens University Hospital (Amiens, France) with confirmed COVID‐19 up until April 21 st , 2020, were included. The composite primary endpoint comprised admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) and death. Both components were also analyzed separately in a logistic regression analysis and a Cox proportional hazards model. Results A total of 433 patients (median age: 72; 238 (55%) men; diabetes: 115 (26.6%)) were included. Most of the deaths occurred in non‐ICU units and among older adults. Multivariate analyses showed that diabetes was associated neither with the primary endpoint (odds ratio (OR): 1.12; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.66‐1.90) nor with mortality (hazard ratio: 0.73; 95%CI: 0.40‐1.34) but was associated with ICU admission (OR: 2.06; 95%CI 1.09‐3.92, p=0.027) and a longer length of hospital stay. Age was negatively associated with ICU admission and positively associated with death. Discussion Diabetes was prevalent in a quarter of the patients hospitalized with COVID‐19; it was associated with a greater risk of ICU admission but not with a significant elevation in mortality. Further investigation of the relationship between COVID‐19 severity and diabetes is warranted. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

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