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Slack / Private Message Drop, pp.575-576 [SLACK_000789] · slack_pm:msg:06010

Date: 2021-03-08 14:45
Type: chat message · slack
recipient: Kristian G. Andersen, Edward C. Holmes, Andrew Rambaut
speaker: Robert F. Garry
Topics: Natural origin / zoonotic spillover

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Yes - hard to culture from natural samples. First issue is you are getting animals that are likely at different stages ininfections - early, late, persistent, recovering - who knows? We don't know how long viremia lasts in Mastomys with Lassa virus. Seems much lower than in humans. Rabies - long term infections, bats carry for a loooong time eventually some [all?] get sick. For SC2 from humans unless the Ct values are really low say low 20s it's very difficult. Not to say that there is not infectious virus there and that under the right circumstance (inhaling it directly into the nasal passages or lungs even a fairly low may be all it takes. I'm just guessing but unlikely bats would produce their Covs at high levels even if you caught then just right . The intermediate hosts/reservoirs, might grow virus to higher levels (like say civets for SC1), but probably varies a lot from animal to animal like humans . Sicksnotty nose pangolins might have higher loads for their viruses, too. Same apparently true of camels for MERS-CoV. All these considerations are why no-one's cultured ebola virus from a bat yet.

Extracted statements

Rule-extracted, not adjudicated. The grade says what may be done with each one; read the document above before relying on any of them.

Statement	Grade	Attribution	Stance
The intermediate hosts/reservoirs, might grow virus to higher levels (like say civets for SC1), but probably varies a lot from animal to animal like humans .	needs context	uncertain explicit hedge	asserts
Sicksnotty nose pangolins might have higher loads for their viruses, too.	needs context	uncertain explicit hedge	asserts

Statement

Grade

Attribution

Stance

The intermediate hosts/reservoirs, might grow virus to higher levels (like say civets for SC1), but probably varies a lot from animal to animal like humans .

needs context

uncertain explicit hedge

asserts

Sicksnotty nose pangolins might have higher loads for their viruses, too.

needs context

uncertain explicit hedge

asserts

In context

A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.

2021-03-08 13:27 Edward C. Holmes open

Such great work from Billy. I'm just surprised he can't get financed.
2021-03-08 13:31 Kristian G. Andersen open

Maybe he should try selling poetry on Amazon - happy to provide him with material.
2021-03-08 13:51 Edward C. Holmes open

Given how cock obsessed Billy is it's not hard to imagine how microscopic his own member must be. I also suspectit requires its own gain of function.
2021-03-08 14:16 Andrew Rambaut open

I was going to ask - how hard is it to collect samples with cultureable viruses? From what I am hearing it is difficult toculture SARS-CoV-2 from many samples so I would imagine sampling bats (say) you would be just hoping for RNA rather than infectious virus.
2021-03-08 14:45 Robert F. Garry

Yes - hard to culture from natural samples. First issue is you are getting animals that are likely at different stages ininfections - early, late, persistent, recovering - who knows? We don't know how long viremia lasts in Mastomys with Lassa virus. Seems much lower than in humans. Rabies - long term infections, bats carry for a loooong time eventually some [all?] get sick. For SC2 from humans unless the Ct values are really low say low 20s it's very difficult. Not to say that there is not infectious virus there and that under the right circumstance (inhaling it directly into the nasal passages or lungs even a fairly low may be all it takes. I'm just guessing but unlikely bats would produce their Covs at high levels even if you caught then just right . The intermediate hosts/reservoirs, might grow virus to higher levels (like say civets for SC1), but probably varies a lot from animal to animal like humans . Sicksnotty nose pangolins might have higher loads for their viruses, too. Same apparently true of camels for MERS-CoV. All these considerations are why no-one's cultured ebola virus from a bat yet.
2021-03-08 14:54 Andrew Rambaut open

And if you just out sampling to look for diversity you are probably going to store the samples to preserve RNA rather than hope to culture anything.
2021-03-08 14:55 Robert F. Garry open

Yes - you might try to get lucky and if your cold chain was good freeze some sample away, but RNA Is the way to goin most field situations.
2021-03-08 14:58 Robert F. Garry open

But - most likely - screening by culturing is not going to be a sensitive as screening the RNA, if you know what you are doing with the RNA .
2021-03-08 14:58 Edward C. Holmes open

We and colleagues do this all the time. The plan is always to get into a cold chain as quick as possible for sequencing. We do have a portable -80C we use in some cases, but it's usually a case of storage in RNAlater.

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