Co-infections of SARS-CoV-2 with multiple common respiratory pathogens in infected patients

Dear Editor,In late December 2019,an outbreak of severe pneumonia caused by an unknown etiological agent was initially reported in Wuhan,China,and then quickly spread throughout China and even abroad(Zhu et al.,2020).Swift control measures and etiological investigations were conducted by the Chinese government,physicians and researchers,and by using high throughput sequencing and virological testing,the mysterious pneumonia pathogen was shown to be a novel coronavirus(SARS-CoV-2)capable of person-to-person transmission(Zhu et al.,2020).Coronaviruses are a group of non-segmented,enveloped and positive-sense RNA viruses that belong to the subfamily of Coronavirinae in the family of Coronavirdiae and order of Nidovirales.

Wavelength-tunable barium gallate persistent luminescence phosphors with enhanced luminescence

The near-infrared[NIR]emitting wavelength-tunable Cr^(3+)-doped barium gallate[BGO:Cr]persistent luminescence[PersL]phosphors with enhanced luminescence were reported.The emission wavelength of the BGO:Cr PersL phosphors was adjusted from 715 to 739 nm by varying the amount of Cr^(3+) and the ratio of Ga:Ba.Meanwhile,the luminescence intensity and afterglow of the BG0:Cr PersL phosphors were enhanced.BGO:Cr PersL phosphors exhibited UV excitation,LED light restimulation,PersL for more than 6 days,and excellent capability for information storage,which was expected to promote the development of cheap and wavelength-tunable PersL materials for practical applications.

Distinct lung microbial community states in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis

An improved understanding of the lung microbiome may lead to better strategies to diagnose, treat, and prevent pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). However, the characteristics of the lung microbiomes of patients with TB remain largely undefined. In this study, 163 bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples were collected from 163 sputum-negative suspected PTB patients. Furthermore, 12 paired BAL samples were obtained from 12 Mycobacterium tuberculosis-positive (MTB+) patients before and after negative conversion following a two-month anti-TB treatment. The V3–V4 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene was used to characterize the microbial composition of the lungs. The results showed that the prevalence of MTB in the BAL samples was 42.9% (70/163) among the sputum-negative patients. The α-diversity of lung microbiota was significantly less diverse in MTB+ patients compared with Mycobacterium tuberculosis-negative (MTB–) patients. There was a significant difference in β-diversity between MTB+ and MTB– patients. MTB+ patients were enriched with Anoxybacillus, while MTB– patients were enriched with Prevotella, Alloprevotella, Veillonella, and Gemella. There was no significant difference between the Anoxybacillus detection rates of MTB+ and MTB– patients. The paired comparison between the BAL samples from MTB+ patients and their negative conversion showed that BAL negative-conversion microbiota had a higher α-diversity. In conclusion, distinct features of airway microbiota could be identified between samples from patients with and without MTB. Our results imply links between lung microbiota and different clinical groups of active PTB.

Laboratory Diagnosis and Monitoring the Viral Shedding of SARS-CoV-2 Infection

The worldwide epidemic of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)is ongoing.Rapid and accurate detection of the causative virus SARSCoV-2 is vital for the treatment and control of COVID-19.In this study,the comparative sensitivity of different respiratory specimen types were retrospectively analyzed using 3,552 clinical samples from 410 COVID-19 patients confirmed by Guangdong CDC(Center for Disease Control and Prevention).Except for bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF),the sputum possessed the highest positive rate(73.4%–87.5%),followed by nasal swabs(53.1%–85.3%)for both severe and mild cases during the first 14 days after illness onset(d.a.o.).Viral RNA could be detected in all BALF samples collected from the severe group within 14 d.a.o.and lasted up to 46 d.a.o.Moreover,although viral RNA was negative in the upper respiratory samples,it was also positive in BALF samples in most cases from the severe group during treatment.Notably,no viral RNA was detected in BALF samples from the mild group.Despite typical ground-glass opacity observed via computed tomographic scans,no viral RNA was detected in the first three or all upper respiratory tract specimens from some COVID-19 patients.In conclusion,sputum is most sensitive for routine laboratory diagnosis of COVID-19,followed by nasal swabs.Detection of viral RNA in BALF improves diagnostic accuracy in severe COVID-19 patients.