ABSTRACT
Once again, the world is facing a coronavirus pandemic, this time from SARS-CoV-2 that emerged in Wuhan, China in late 2019, Previous coronaviral threats include the SARS coronavirus that emerged in southern China in 2003 as the causative pathogen of severe acute respiratory syndrome, and a coronavirus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). However, unlike these homologous coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 creates a remarkable range of medical outcomes, from lethality to mild (or no) symptoms in infected individuals. Further, it appears to be transmissible via asymptomatic carriers. RT-LAMP primers were designed as described previously. The primers and displaceable probes for displaceable probe RT-LAMP (DP-RT-LAMP) primers and strand displaceable probes were purchased from Integrated DNA Technologies. In addition to IRB approved saliva collection, some of the saliva samples were purchased from BioIVT (human saliva, 5 mL) and received as de-identified. Donor information sheet with gender, age and race was provided.
