Journal article
SARS-CoV-2 does not replicate in embryonated hen's eggs or in MDCK cell lines
IG Barr, C Rynehart, P Whitney, J Druce
Eurosurveillance | EUR CENTRE DIS PREVENTION & CONTROL | Published : 2020
Open access
Abstract
The advent of COVID-19, has posed a risk that human respiratory samples containing human influenza viruses may also contain SARS-CoV-2. This potential risk may lead to SARS-CoV-2 contaminating conventional influenza vaccine production platforms as respiratory samples are used to directly inoculate embryonated hen's eggs and continuous cell lines that are used to isolate and produce influenza vaccines. We investigated the ability of these substrates to propagate SARS-CoV-2 and found that neither could support SARS-CoV-2 replication.
Grants
Funding Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Rajeev Rudraraju and Francesca Mordant for provision of SARS-CoV-2 virus stock and Vero cells. The Melbourne WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza is supported by the Australian Government Department of Health.