Novel rapid identification of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by real-time RT-PCR using BD Max Open System in Taiwan

Cherng-Lih Perng; Ming-Jr Jian; Chih-Kai Chang; Jung-Chung Lin; Kuo-Ming Yeh; Chien-Wen Chen; Sheng-Kang Chiu; Hsing-Yi Chung; Yi-Hui Wang; Shu-Jung Liao; Shih-Yi Li; Shan-Shan Hsieh; Shih-Hung Tsai; Feng-Yee Chang; Hung-Sheng Shang

doi:10.7717/peerj.9318

Novel rapid identification of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by real-time RT-PCR using BD Max Open System in Taiwan

PeerJ. 2020 Jun 17:8:e9318. doi: 10.7717/peerj.9318. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Division of Clinical Pathology, Department of Pathology, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
² Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Department of Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
³ Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
⁴ Department of Emergency Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 has become a worldwide pandemic. By April 7, 2020, approximately 1,279,722 confirmed cases were reported worldwide including those in Asia, European Region, African Region and Region of the Americas. Rapid and accurate detection of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is critical for patient care and implementing public health measures to control the spread of infection. In this study, we developed and validated a rapid total nucleic acid extraction method based on real-time RT-PCR for reliable, high-throughput identification of SARS-CoV-2 using the BD MAX platform. For clinical validation, 300 throat swab and 100 sputum clinical samples were examined by both the BD MAX platform and in-house real-time RT-PCR methods, which showed 100% concordant results. This BD MAX protocol is fully automated and the turnaround time from sample to results is approximately 2.5 h for 24 samples compared to 4.8 h by in-house real-time RT-PCR. Our developed BD MAX RT-PCR assay can accurately identify SARS-CoV-2 infection and shorten the turnaround time to increase the effectiveness of control and prevention measures for this emerging infectious disease.

Keywords: BD Max platform; Real-time RT-PCR; SARS-CoV-2.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC, Grant Numbers: TSGH-D-109142 and NDMC-NTHU-109-3. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.