Respiratory viral co-infections among SARS-CoV-2 cases confirmed by virome capture sequencing

• Main Authors: Ki Wook Kim, Ira W. Deveson, Chi Nam I. Pang, Malinna Yeang, Zin Naing, Thiruni Adikari, Jillian M. Hammond, Igor Stevanovski, Alicia G. Beukers, Andrey Verich, Simon Yin, David McFarlane, Marc R. Wilkins, Sacha Stelzer-Braid, Rowena A. Bull, Maria E. Craig, Sebastiaan J. van Hal, William D. Rawlinson
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group 2021-02-01
• Series: Scientific Reports
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83642-x

Abstract Accumulating evidence supports the high prevalence of co-infections among Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) patients, and their potential to worsen the clinical outcome of COVID-19. However, there are few data on Southern Hemisphere populations, and most studies to date have investigated a narrow spectrum of viruses using targeted qRT-PCR. Here we assessed respiratory viral co-infections among SARS-CoV-2 patients in Australia, through respiratory virome characterization. Nasopharyngeal swabs of 92 SARS-CoV-2-positive cases were sequenced using pan-viral hybrid-capture and the Twist Respiratory Virus Panel. In total, 8% of cases were co-infected, with rhinovirus (6%) or influenzavirus (2%). Twist capture also achieved near-complete sequencing (> 90% coverage, > tenfold depth) of the SARS-CoV-2 genome in 95% of specimens with Ct < 30. Our results highlight the importance of assessing all pathogens in symptomatic patients, and the dual-functionality of Twist hybrid-capture, for SARS-CoV-2 whole-genome sequencing without amplicon generation and the simultaneous identification of viral co-infections with ease.