Vero cells (ATCC CCL-81) were inoculated with
100 μl of the nasal swab medium and maintained
in complete Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s
Medium, as described previously. The cells were
incubated in a humidified atmosphere at 37°C in
5% carbon dioxide and examined daily for a cytopathic
effect. Cell-culture supernatants were collected
when a cytopathic effect was observed and
were analyzed by means of real-time RT-PCR.
The MERS-CoV isolate that was generated from
the first culture passage was used for whole viral
genome sequencing.