Difficulties in Differentiating Coronaviruses from Subcellular Structures in Human Tissues by Electron Microscopy.
Emerg Infect Dis
; 27(4): 1023-1031, 2021 04.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1088897
ABSTRACT
Efforts to combat the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have placed a renewed focus on the use of transmission electron microscopy for identifying coronavirus in tissues. In attempts to attribute pathology of COVID-19 patients directly to tissue damage caused by SARS-CoV-2, investigators have inaccurately reported subcellular structures, including coated vesicles, multivesicular bodies, and vesiculating rough endoplasmic reticulum, as coronavirus particles. We describe morphologic features of coronavirus that distinguish it from subcellular structures, including particle size range (60-140 nm), intracellular particle location within membrane-bound vacuoles, and a nucleocapsid appearing in cross section as dense dots (6-12 nm) within the particles. In addition, although the characteristic spikes of coronaviruses may be visible on the virus surface, especially on extracellular particles, they are less evident in thin sections than in negative stain preparations.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Cellular Structures
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Emerg Infect Dis
Journal subject:
Communicable Diseases
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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