Abstract
The types of interactions between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and other respiratory viruses are not well-characterized due to the low number of co-infection cases described since the onset of the pandemic. We have evaluated the interactions between SARS-CoV-2 (D614G mutant) and influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in the nasal human airway epithelium (HAE) infected simultaneously or sequentially (24 h apart) with virus combinations. The replication kinetics of each virus were determined by RT-qPCR at different post-infection times. Our results showed that during simultaneous infection, SARS-CoV-2 interferes with RSV-A2 but not with A(H1N1)pdm09 replication. The prior infection of nasal HAE with SARS-CoV-2 reduces the replication kinetics of both respiratory viruses. SARS-CoV-2 replication is decreased by a prior infection with A(H1N1)pdm09 but not with RSV-A2. The pretreatment of nasal HAE with BX795, a TANK-binding kinase 1 inhibitor, partially alleviates the reduced replication of SARS-CoV-2 or influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 during sequential infection with both virus combinations. Thus, a prior infection of nasal HAE with SARS-CoV-2 interferes with the replication kinetics of A(H1N1)pdm09 and RSV-A2, whereas only A(H1N1)pdm09 reduces the subsequent infection with SARS-CoV-2. The mechanism involved in the viral interference between SARS-CoV-2 and A(H1N1)pdm09 is mediated by the production of interferon.
Highlights
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has rapidly emerged and spread throughout the world, causing a pandemic crisis with disastrous sanitary and economic consequences
Our results show that a prior infection with SARS-CoV-2 interferes with the replication kinetics of both viruses, whereas influenza
No significant differences were observed during SARS-CoV-2 and A(H1N1)pdm09 simultaneous infections, except at 72 h p.i. for both viruses (*, p < 0.05; Figure 2A)
Summary
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has rapidly emerged and spread throughout the world, causing a pandemic crisis with disastrous sanitary and economic consequences. Since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that the number of influenza cases has decreased markedly in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres [4,5,6,7], whereas RSV activity occurred at an unusual time [8,9,10]. For the 2020–2021 season, only 69 influenza cases were reported in Canada, which was lower than the average of 52,169 influenza detections recorded during the past six seasons [11]. Regarding RSV, only 986 cases were detected in Canada for the 2020–2021 season, which was around 20 times lower than the
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