On February 13, Guangdong held a routine press conference on epidemic prevention and control. Chen Junming (陈俊明) People’s Daily Online, Guangzhou, Feb. 13 (Wang Xing, Chen Junming) – Zhao Jinxu, deputy director of the State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases (SKLRD), informed at a Guangdong government press conference on Feb. 13 that Zhong Nanshan’s team isolated a novel coronavirus from the feces of a local patient with severe respiratory disease in Guangzhou. The study was completed in collaboration with the State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases of Guangzhou Medical University, the Biosafety Level 3 Laboratory of Guangzhou Customs Technology Center and the Fifth Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, it was learned. The fecal swab specimens used in the study were provided by the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Zhuhai. The laboratory inoculated the samples with various cell lines and passed them on, and finally isolated the new coronavirus strain from Vero E6 cells. The patient’s plasma recognized the infected cells of this isolate. It was previously reported that the novel coronavirus nucleic acid was detected positively in the feces of patients diagnosed with neocoronavirus pneumonia, but it was unknown whether there was live virus in the feces. In this regard, Zhao Jincun said that the finding has certain public health significance, which can guide the formulation of policies for the prevention and control of subsequent epidemics. Currently, the State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases, in conjunction with the Guangzhou Customs Technology Center, has completed the determination of the whole genome sequence of the virus strain, and used indirect immunofluorescence experiments to show that the patient’s plasma can recognize the isolate infected cells (Figure 1). The virus particles can be observed under the electron microscope with the typical structure of coronaviruses. Viral particles could be observed with the typical structure of coronaviruses. “This discovery is not a coincidence.” Zhao Jincun introduced that Li Lanjuan’s team at the State Key Laboratory of Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases at Zhejiang University similarly isolated the novel coronavirus from the patient’s fecal sample. The presence of live novel coronavirus in the patient’s feces is a phenomenon that suggests there may be a new way for the new coronavirus to spread, but further research is needed to see if it will cause human-to-human transmission. “People do not need to worry too much about this, as long as they gather less, keep the sewers usually and pay attention to household hygiene.” Source: People’s Daily Online – Guangdong Channel