Wild Animal Migration As a Potential Threat of Introduction of New Viruses into Russia.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has shown how serious the problem of re-emerging zoonotic infections is for our existence. Migrations of animals, which are natural reservoirs of a particular virus, play a colossal role in the spread of pathogens to new territories. Examples are the migrations of both land animals (carnivores, rodents, and ungulates) and many marine mammals (pinnipeds and cetaceans). Yet the most interesting from the point of view of the speed and range of the spread of viral infections are migrations associated with flights. In nature, these can be migrations of insects, bats, and, of course, birds. Unfortunately, there are very few studies on the migration of these animals in Russia. Considering the problems related to climate change and other environmental factors, it is important to obtain up-to-date data on the changing animal migration routes and, as a consequence, to develop domestic equipment, particularly transmitters, to fix them.

Development of a Purified Viral Preparation for Studies of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) Biology.

Different methods for producing bulk quantities of concentrated and purified SARS-CoV-2 for the use as antigens and for the research into COVID-19 biology were tested.

Low incidence of human coronavirus among hospitalized children in Novosibirsk city, Russia during pre-pandemic period (2013-2020).

We investigated the incidence of 15 respiratory viruses among 2991 children with acute respiratory infections in Novosibirsk city, Russia, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (2013-2020). Viral infections were detected in 72.5% cases. The incidence of human coronavirus was 2% (Alphacoronaviruses, 63%; Betacoronaviruses, 37%).

Antigenic properties of sARs-CoV-2/human/RUs/nsk-FRCFtM-1/2020 coronavirus isolate from a patient in novosibirsk

Objective: isolation of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 from clinical sample of patient with COVID-19 in Novosibirsk;obtaining a purified and inactivated viral antigen and study of its antigenic properties. Materials and methods: virus isolation was carried out in Vero cell culture from nasopharyngeal swab positive on SARS-CoV-2 RNA. The efficiency of SARS-CoV-2 replication in cell culture was assessed on the appearance of cytopathic effect (CPE) and the presence of viral RNA in cultural medium with reverse transcription – polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Purification, concentration and inactivation of the viral preparation were carried out according to standard methods. The purity of the purified preparation and the profile of viral proteins were determined by electrophoresis in 10% polyacrylamide gel (PAG) with the addition of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The presence and specificity of viral proteins were detected using COVID-19 convalescent’s sera with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and immunoblotting. Results: SARS-CoV-2/human/ RUS/Nsk-FRCFTM-1/2020 isolate was obtained after passage on Vero cells from a virus-containing clinical sample. A purified, concentrated, inactivated, whole-virion antigen was obtained. It contains three structural proteins: glycoprotein S (approximately 200 kDa), nucleoprotein N (48 kDa), and matrix protein M (20-25 kDa). All viral proteins were detected with serum antibodies of COVID-19 convalescents. Conclusion: SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus can be isolated in Vero cell culture. The antigenic specificity of the three structural viral proteins (S, N, and M) is preserved in the purified inactivated viral preparation. The inactivated whole-virion antigen of SARS-CoV-2/human/RUS/Nsk-FRCFTM-1/2020 isolate can be used to study the antigenic immunomodulating properties of viral proteins, to obtain immune sera of laboratory animals, and also as a component of test systems for the detection of specific antibodies with ELISA and immunoblotting.