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Volume 28, Number 2—February 2022
Research Letter

Surveillance of Rodent Pests for SARS-CoV-2 and Other Coronaviruses, Hong Kong

Elliott F. Miot1, Brian M. Worthington1, Kar Hon Ng1, Lucy de Guilhem de Lataillade1, Mac P. Pierce, Yunshi Liao, Ronald Ko, Marcus H. Shum, William Y. Cheung, Edward C. Holmes, Kathy S. Leung, Huachen Zhu, Leo L. Poon, Malik J. Peiris, Yi Guan, Gabriel M. Leung, Joseph T. WuComments to Author , and Tommy T. LamComments to Author 
Author affiliations: University of Hong Kong State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Hong Kong, China (E.F. Miot, B.M. Worthington, K.H. Ng, L. de Guilhem de Lataillade, M.P. Pierce, Y. Liao, M.H. Shum, W.Y. Cheung, H. Zhu, Y. Guan, T.T. Lam); University of Hong Kong School of Public Health, Hong Kong (E.F. Miot, B.M. Worthington, K.H. Ng, L. de Guilhem de Lataillade, M.P. Pierce, Y. Liao, R. Ko, M.H. Shum, W.Y. Cheung, H. Zhu, L.L. Poon, M.J. Peiris, Y. Guan, G.M. Leung, J.T. Wu, T.T. Lam); University of Hong Kong HKU-Pasteur Research Pole, Hong Kong (E.F. Miot, L. de Guilhem de Lataillade, L.L. Poon, M.J. Peiris); Centre for Immunology & Infection Limited, Hong Kong (E.F. Miot, L. de Guilhem de Lataillade, L.L. Poon, M.J. Peiris, T.T. Lam); Shantou University/University of Hong Kong Guangdong-Hongkong Joint Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Shantou, Guangdong, China. (B.M. Worthington, W.Y. Cheung, H. Zhu, Y. Guan, T.T. Lam); EKIH (Gewuzhikang) Pathogen Research Institute, Shenzhen City, Guangdong, China. (B.M. Worthington, W.Y. Cheung, H. Zhu, Y. Guan, T.T. Lam); Laboratory of Data Discovery for Health Limited, Hong Kong, China (W.Y. Cheung, E.C. Holmes, K.S. Leung, H. Zhu, Y. Guan, G.M. Leung, J.T. Wu, T.T. Lam); Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, University of Sydney School of Biological Sciences, and Sydney Medical School, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (E.C. Holmes)

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Table

Information on rodents with unambiguous (n = 1) or inconclusive (n = 11) positive serum samples in ELISA testing in study of surveillance of rodent pests for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and other coronaviruses, Hong Kong*

Animal code Rattus species Collection date District ELISA A/CO
 sVNT, inhibition, %
1st replicate 2nd replicate
Rat-027
 R. tanezumi
 Feb 11
 Sham Shui Po
 0.019
 0.855
 1.281
Rat-069
 R. norvegicus
 Feb 24
 Kowloon City
 0.837
 0.964
 0.991
Rat-070
 R. norvegicus
 Feb 24
 Kowloon City
 1.199
 0.472
 –2.128
Rat-073
 R. tanezumi
 Feb 25
 Yau Tsim Mong
 1.445
 0.033
 2.224
Rat-076
 R. norvegicus
 Feb 25
 Sham Shui Po
 1.644
 0.027
 1.136
Rat-089
 R. norvegicus
 Mar 1
 Yau Tsim Mong
 1.324
 –0.041
 1.209
Rat-090
 R. norvegicus
 Mar 1
 Yau Tsim Mong
 1.636
 –0.027
 –0.532
Rat-096
 R. norvegicus
 Mar 2
 Yau Tsim Mong
 0.934
 –0.007
 3.748
Rat-097
 R. norvegicus
 Mar 2
 Yau Tsim Mong
 1.592
 0.013
 –4.666
Rat-098
 R. tanezumi
 Mar 2
 Sham Shui Po
 1.920
 –0.724
 –2.466
Rat-102
 R. norvegicus
 Mar 3
 Kwai Tsing
 0.992
 –0.499
 0.145
Rat-213† R. norvegicus May 10 Yau Tsim Mong 13.643 14.497 31.7

*A/CO was interpreted as negative if <0.9, borderline if 0.9–1.1, and seropositive if >1.1, according to manufacturer instructions. Serum was considered unambiguously positive if both replicates were seropositive. Positive cutoff for sVNT was 20% inhibition, as described elsewhere (9). A/CO, absorbance cutoff; sVNT, surrogate virus neutralization test. †Positive in both ELISA and sVNT.

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References
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1These coauthors contributed equally to this article.

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Page updated: January 22, 2022
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