KARACHI:A team of experts, led by Vice Chancellor of the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) Prof Mohammad Saeed Quraishy, analyzed virus sequence from a locally infected patient’s body.
According to a DUHS report, experts say that determining of the sequence was a remarkable step, which in turn would help in development of vaccine and treatment modalities. However, this is still a very early but key phase of research and more steps are yet to come.
The Dow University lab is one of the first labs in the country to introduce the coronavirus PCR testing. The fully equipped modern (BSL-3) virology lab at DUHS was used for the Isolation of RNA from the sample and through PCR, the presence of virus was confirmed. The virus was transmitted to the boy locally but research showed that this virus has come from Saudi Arabia and it has infected 15 patients of same family, Which indicates that the local spread of this virus is very fast? Genome sequence revealed that the sequence of this virus is slightly different from Wuhan virus with few mutations.
This virus has originated in China and came to Pakistan through Saudi Arabia. Moreover, it is to be noted that this is just one of the invested cases, and while we are in the process of analyzing many other samples that have been transmitted from other countries including Iran, Iraq, Syria, UK, US etc. and the research on it is still going.
Dow University’s fully equipped lab has conducted hundreds of people’s coronavirus tests free of cost and is still conducting the same. This research is in its initial stage and the sequencing was done with the cooperation of ICCBS, University of Karachi. Dow University is not only providing medical and diagnostic care but is also working in the field of research. SARS-COV-2 is changing its genetics according to our local conditions, said the university.