TY - JOUR AU - Vicenzi, Elisa AU - Canducci, Filippo AU - Pinna, Debora AU - Mancini, Nicasio AU - Carletti, Silvia AU - Lazzarin, Adriano AU - Bordignon, Claudio AU - Poli, Guido AU - Clementi, Massimo T1 - Coronaviridae and SARS-associated Coronavirus Strain HSR1 T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2004 VL - 10 IS - 3 SP - 413 SN - 1080-6059 AB - During the recent severe acute respiratory (SARS) outbreak, the etiologic agent was identified as a new coronavirus (CoV). We have isolated a SARS-associated CoV (SARS-CoV) strain by injecting Vero cells with a sputum specimen from an Italian patient affected by a severe pneumonia; the patient traveled from Vietnam to Italy in March 2003. Ultrastructural analysis of infected Vero cells showed the virions within cell vesicles and around the cell membrane. The full-length viral genome sequence was similar to those derived from the Hong-Kong Hotel M isolate. By using both real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction TaqMan assay and an infectivity plaque assay, we determined that approximately 360 viral genomes were required to generate a PFU. In addition, heparin (100 μg/mL) inhibited infection of Vero cells by 50%. Overall, the molecular and biologic characteristics of the strain HSR1 provide evidence that SARS-CoV forms a fourth genetic coronavirus group with distinct genomic and biologic features. KW - SARS-coronavirus KW - isolation KW - sequence KW - plaque assay KW - real-time PCR KW - Italy DO - 10.3201/eid1003.030683 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/10/3/03-0683_article ER - End of Reference