16 hours to uncover the "true face" of the virus, what did the Shenzhen NEW CROWN traceability team do?

In recent days

Emergency Experimental Building of Shenzhen Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Lights lit up all night

Just 16 hours

This is a young and efficient team

Unveiling the "true face" of the virus

This is the experimental site of the new crown traceability team of the Shenzhen Cd-operative Center. Since the evening of January 6, when the first positive sample of the new crown virus nucleic acid test of the "0107" epidemic was obtained, the team has been rotating for 4 days and 5 nights.

On January 10, Shenzhen reported that the strains infected by the four cases before the "0107" epidemic were all Delta variants (AY.103 evolutionary branches), and 100% homologous. According to comprehensive analysis, the source of the epidemic is the local epidemic caused by overseas imports, and the possibility of infection caused by exposure to new coronavirus pollutants abroad is high. It is the Shenzhen CDC's COVID-19 traceability team that has made a significant contribution to finding the source of the epidemic.

"Identifying the source of infection one minute earlier adds one more point to the chances of outperforming the coronavirus."

On the 10th, He Yaqing, deputy director of the Institute of Pathogens and Biology of the Shenzhen Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention and head of the Shenzhen DISEASE Control New Crown Traceability Team, said so in an exclusive interview with the reporter of Readingtron/Shenzhen Business Daily. This time, the team led by He Yaqing only took 16 hours to find out the new coronavirus type of the 1 and 2 infections of this epidemic case, which was 8 hours earlier than before.

Race against the clock and rush back to the house at 5 a.m

Time back to January 6th.

At about 10:30 p.m. on the same day, He Yaqing received a suspicious positive from a local "10 mixed 1" nucleic acid test sample in Shenzhen, got the fluorescent PCR result map of the nucleic acid initial screening, looked at it a few times, and with her rich experience, she has basically determined that there may be a case of new coronavirus infection in Shenzhen.

"The emergence of cases of new coronavirus infection in the mainland is a big deal, and the genetic traceability of the virus must be carried out immediately."

The alarm bell in He Yaqing's brain rang immediately, and she called the relevant members of the team at the first time to prepare to return to the unit to do the whole genome sequence determination of the new crown virus. He Yaqing immediately sent a message to the leaders of the center - "arranged: if there is a positive case, the first time to sequence."

At 11:30 p.m., after experimental confirmation, it was confirmed that it was positive for the nucleic acid of the new crown virus. After that, the second sample with a suspicious positive nucleic acid test was also sent to the Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the laboratory confirmed the emergence of a second case of new coronavirus infection.

Gene sequencing requires sample pre-processing, library construction, sequencing reactions, bioinformatics analysis and other steps, of which library construction includes RNA reverse transcription, amplification, etc.

Zhu Can in the team works in both nucleic acid detection and virus traceability. At 4:00 a.m. on the 7th, after the end of the nucleic acid testing work, Zhu Can began the first step in the construction of the library for gene sequencing, performing RNA reverse transcription.

"The gene sequencing process is one link at a time, especially in the case of local cases, everyone has played a 100-point spirit and dare not slacken off." He Yaqing said that in this tense and busy process, many things happened that touched her.

In order to produce the results as soon as possible, according to He Yaqing's arrangement a few hours ago, at 5 a.m. on January 7, before dawn, Wei Xinyi of the sequencing group had rushed back to the unit from home and began the sequencing work.

Chen Long, another member of the group, was scheduled to leave for Gansu to mention relatives during the day on the 7th, and after learning that the emergence of local cases needed to trace the source of the virus, considering the impact of the epidemic and fearing that he could not return to Shenzhen in time, he called He Yaqing at five or six o'clock in the morning on the 7th, saying that he would postpone the mention of relatives and return to the institute to carry out work first.

Gene traceability, so that the source of the virus "hammer"

At more than 8:00 a.m. on the 7th, after the official announcement of the news of 2 confirmed cases of new crown in Shenzhen, rumors began to appear, some people said it was Omicron, some people said it was Delta. In order to produce results as soon as possible and block rumors, the team did not dare to relax.

"When the sequencing reaction step ended and the machine was disembarking, with the original data, team members Li Shimin and Lu Qingju ran from the second floor to the fourth floor, inserted the U disk into the server for the first time, and quickly began to splice the virus gene sequence, without daring to delay for a second." He Yaqing said, "Also, the student Qu Yali is also very involved in this traceability and grows rapidly. ”

At 8 p.m. on January 7, the results of genetic sequencing were released, showing that the new coronavirus infected by cases 1 and 2 was the Delta strain (AY.103 evolutionary branch), and the homology of the two was 100%.

"It's the Delta mutant, not the Aomikron!" The report was released as a "hammer and nail" for the virus type, and He Yaqing was also greatly relieved and immediately reported the news to the superior leaders.

At 11:12 p.m., the WeChat public account of the Shenzhen Health Commission posted "Genetic Sequencing Results of 2 Confirmed Cases in Shenzhen: Delta Variant Strain". As soon as the tweet came out, everyone forwarded it. This is good news for all.

He Yaqing told reporters that Aomi Kerong is more disseminated than Delta, if it is Aomi Kerong, Shenzhen is afraid that it will face greater challenges, and the investigation work of relevant staff will be more arduous. "What's more, we don't have experience dealing with Omexjong before, which means it's more risky."

Technical escort, scientific research and judgment of the epidemic situation

He Yaqing introduced that the whole genome sequence determination of the new crown virus uses high-throughput sequencing technology, also known as second-generation sequencing technology.

"The eighth edition of the new crown pneumonia prevention and control plan released by the state on May 11, 2021 clearly states that the traceability of the new crown virus should use second-generation sequencing technology, and our unit has been using this technology to conduct traceability experiments for the new crown virus, including last year's '5.21' and '6.14' epidemics."

In He Yaqing's view, after the emergence of local cases of the new crown virus, it is very important to trace the source of the virus at the first time.

"We first have to determine the type of virus, and then we have to determine the source of the virus. For different types of new coronavirus, the key groups and key areas we have defined, as well as the prevention and control measures taken, are different. Second, the source of the virus can be determined by comparing it with imported cases in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, the whole country, and the sequence of the new crown virus abroad. ”

He Yaqing said that through the comparison of viral gene sequences, it can be inferred whether the source of the spread of the epidemic is the same source - if the whole gene sequence of the new coronavirus in the case is highly homologous, it can be inferred that it is the same source of infection or the same chain of transmission. If the whole gene sequence of the new crown virus is not the same type, or the homology is not high, it can be inferred that it is a new crown virus of different origins, which plays a crucial role in the judgment of the epidemic.

Young and "energetic" enough to fight the source of the virus to the end

Behind the efficient traceability work is a young team.

The first "young" is the short time it was founded. In January 2020, after He Yaqing returned to work at the institute after the initial recovery of work injury, the first thing he did was to set up a new crown traceability platform. "As a researcher in the molecular epidemiology of viruses, I always feel that we should have our own team of virus genes." He Yaqing said to do it, to plan projects, team groups, buy equipment, Shenzhen CDC new crown traceability team has been formed in less than a month.

The second "young" is the average age of small. The average age of the team formed by He Yaqing is also very young, most of them are post-90s, and even post-00s. "Tracing the origin of the virus is not an easy task, and we often have to race against the virus." In He Yaqing's view, young people have vitality, motivation, fast learning, and willingness to endure hardships, which is just in line with the work of genetic traceability.

Since its establishment, staying up late and working overtime has become a common thing for this team, regardless of day and night, regardless of holidays. Usually, they need to undertake the daily testing and confirmation of the new crown virus, information reporting, and when they encounter a positive sample report of the new crown virus, they must start the traceability of the new crown virus in a race against time. "Every time we complete the traceability work and determine the source of the virus, we are very proud." He Yaqing said.

From "5.21" to "6.14" to the "0107" epidemic, this is the third time that the team has encountered a "test" of a sudden local case of the new crown virus. Every time, He Yaqing's team handed over a new high score, and the genetic sequencing time ranged from 27 hours to 24 hours at the beginning to 16 hours this time, which won an additional 8 precious hours for government decision-making and circulation personnel to screen potential infected people (close contacts), protecting the lives and health of more people.

Transferred from: Shenzhen Business Daily

Source: Shenzhen News Network