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. 2024 Jul;631(8020):402-408.
doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06043-2. Epub 2023 Apr 5.

Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at the Huanan Seafood Market

William J Liu #  1 , Peipei Liu #  2 , Wenwen Lei #  2 , Zhiyuan Jia #  2 , Xiaozhou He #  2 , Weifeng Shi #  3 , Yun Tan #  4 , Shumei Zou  2 , Gary Wong  5 , Ji Wang  2 , Feng Wang  2 , Gang Wang  2 , Kun Qin  2 , Rongbao Gao  2 , Jie Zhang  2 , Min Li  2 , Wenling Xiao  2   6 , Yuanyuan Guo  2 , Ziqian Xu  2 , Yingze Zhao  2 , Jingdong Song  2 , Jing Zhang  2 , Wei Zhen  2 , Wenting Zhou  2 , Beiwei Ye  2 , Juan Song  2 , Mengjie Yang  2 , Weimin Zhou  2 , Yuting Dai  4 , Gang Lu  4 , Yuhai Bi  7 , Wenjie Tan  2 , Jun Han  2 , George F Gao  8   9 , Guizhen Wu  10
Affiliations

Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at the Huanan Seafood Market

William J Liu et al. Nature. 2024 Jul.

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019, emerged in December 2019. Its origins remain uncertain. It has been reported that a number of the early human cases of coronavirus disease 2019 had a history of contact with the Huanan Seafood Market. Here we present the results of surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 within the market. From 1 January 2020, after closure of the market, 923 samples were collected from the environment. From 18 January, 457 samples were collected from 18 species of animal, comprising unsold contents of refrigerators and freezers, swabs from stray animals and the contents of a fish tank. Using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and high-throughput sequencing (Bowtie2 analysis), SARS-CoV-2 was detected in 74 (70 RT-qPCR and 4 Bowtie2) environmental samples, but none of the animal samples. Three live viruses were successfully isolated. The viruses from the market shared a nucleotide identity of 99.99% to 100% with the human isolate HCoV-19/Wuhan/IVDC-HB-01/2019. SARS-CoV-2 lineage A (8782T and 28144C) was found in an environmental sample. RNA-sequencing analysis of SARS-CoV-2-positive and SARS-CoV-2-negative environmental samples showed an abundance of different vertebrate genera at the market. In summary, this study provides information about the distribution and prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the Huanan Seafood Market during the early stages of the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019.

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