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A novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak, responsible for a pneumonia-associated respiratory disorder (COVID-19), has started in early December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and has rapidly spread around the world. Rapid and accurate diagnostic testing plays a crucial role in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, it was aimed to compare 5 primer sets designed to amplify different regions for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 and to perform sequence analysis. Conventional RT-PCR was carried out using primers targeting different regions of the virus genome including ORF1ab, Envelope (E), RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), Spike (S) and Nucleocapsid (N) genes for the diagnosis of COVID-19. DNA sequence of ORF1ab gene from each sample were compared with the DNA sequence data of SARS-CoV-2 stored in the GenBank and ORF1ab phylogenetic tree was constructed. The amplicon sizes of ORF1ab, S, E, N and RdRp genes were 588 bp, 440 bp, 145 bp, 323 bp and 196 bp, respectively. The SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected from 74% of total samples from RdRp gene, 87% for N gene, 74% for S gene, 61% for E gene and 82% for ORF1ab region. The ORF1ab sequences of SARS-CoV-2 from 82 patients were had 100% identity to the sequence of Wuhan isolate and among themselves. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that all isolates formed a cluster. The results of this study suggest that the N region is the best for SARS-CoV-2 identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Q fever is a widespread zoonotic disease that is caused by obligate intracellular bacteria, Coxiella burnetii. This study was planned to determine the prevalence of C. burnetii in cows', goats', and ewes' bulk milk (BM) samples using PCR and to confirm positive results by DNA sequencing. A total of 150 BM samples (50 samples of each cows', goats', and ewes' milk) collected from 15 randomly selected dairy farms in Hatay province were analyzed. The BM samples were taken between January 2012 and July 2013. Bacterial DNA was extracted directly from milk samples. Nine of the BM samples (6 %) were PCR positive; five from cows' BM, two from ewes' BM, and two from goats' BM. Bacterial DNA was detected in 3 of 15 (20 %) dairy farms. Positive results were confirmed by DNA sequencing. The sequencing results of Coxiella DNA extracted from cows', goats', and ewes' milk samples were consistent with the reference strain with 100 %, 99.7 %, 99.8 % homology, respectively. BM samples were found to be contaminated with C. burnetii; therefore, taking hygienic measures is necessary for food safety and public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]