مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - First Cases of SARS-CoV-2 in Iran, 2020: Case Series Report

Author/Authors :

YAVARIAN, Jila Department of Virology - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , SHAFIEI-JANDAGHI, Nazanin-Zahra Department of Virology - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , SADEGHI, Kaveh Department of Virology - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , SHATIZADEH MALEKSHAHI, Somayeh Department of Virology - Faculty of Medical Sciences - Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran , SALIMI, Vahid Department of Virology - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , NEJATI, Ahmad Department of Virology - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , AJAMINEJAD, Fatemeh Department of Virology - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , GHAVVAMI, Nastaran Department of Virology - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , SAADATMAND, Fatemeh Department of Virology - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , MAHFOUZI, Saeedeh Department of Virology - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , FATEMINASAB, Ghazal Department of Virology - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , PARHIZGARI, Najmeh Department of Virology - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , AHMADI, Akramsadat Department of Virology - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , RAZAVI, Kobra Department of Virology - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , GHABESHI, Soad Department of Virology - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , SABERIAN, Mostafa Department of Cellular and Molecular Nutrition - School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , ZANJANI1, Elham Department of Virology - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , NAMAZI, Fatemeh School of Allied Medical Sciences - Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , SHAHBAZI, Tayebeh Department of Bacteriology - Faculty of Medical Sciences - Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran , REZAIE, Farshid Iranian Center for Communicable Disease Control, Tehran, Iran , ERFANI, Hossein Iranian Center for Communicable Disease Control, Tehran, Iran , Mehdi GOUYA, Mohammad Iranian Center for Communicable Disease Control, Tehran, Iran , NASR DADRAS, Mohammad Iranian Center for Communicable Disease Control, Tehran, Iran , MOKHTARI AZAD, Talat Iranian Center for Communicable Disease Control, Tehran, Iran

Abstract :

In Jan 2020, the outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China spread increasingly to other countries worldwide which WHO declared it as a public health emergency of international concern. Iran was included in the affected countries. Throat swab specimens were collected and tested by using real-time reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) kit targeting the E region for screening and RNA dependent RNA polymerase for confirmation. Conventional RT-PCR was conducted for the N region and the PCR products were sequenced by Sanger sequencing. The first seven cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections were identified in Qom, Iran. This report describes the clinical and epidemiological features of the first cases of SARS-CoV-2 confirmed in Iran. Future research should focus on finding the routes of transmission for this virus, including the possibility of transmission from foreign tourists to identify the possible origin of SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in Iran.