J Korean Med Sci. 2020 Feb 24;35(7):e84. English.
Published online Feb 18, 2020. https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2020.35.e84
© 2020 The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences.
Virus Isolation from the First Patient with SARS-CoV-2 in Korea
Wan Beom Park, Nak-Jung Kwon, Su-Jin Choi,Chang Kyung Kang, Pyoeng Gyun Choe,Jin Yong Kim, Jiyoung Yun, Gir-Won Lee,Moon-Woo Seong, Nam Joong Kim,Jeong-Sun Seo, and Myoung-don Oh
Abstract
Novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is found to cause a large outbreak started from Wuhan since December 2019 in China and SARS-CoV-2 infections have been reported with epidemiological linkage to China in 25 countries until now. We isolated SARS-CoV-2 from the oropharyngeal sample obtained from the patient with the first laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in Korea. Cytopathic effects of SARS-CoV-2 in the Vero cell cultures were confluent 3 days after the first blind passage of the sample. Coronavirus was confirmed with spherical particle having a fringe reminiscent of crown on transmission electron microscopy. Phylogenetic analyses of whole genome sequences showed that it clustered with other SARS-CoV-2 reported from Wuhan.