Superspreading in the emergence of COVID-19 variants.
Trends Genet
; 37(12): 1069-1080, 2021 12.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34556337
ABSTRACT
Superspreading and variants of concern (VOC) of the human pathogen severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are the main catalyzers of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. However, measuring their individual impact is challenging. By examining the largest database of SARS-CoV-2 genomes The Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data [GISAID; n >1.2 million high-quality (HQ) sequences], we present evidence suggesting that superspreading has had a key role in the epidemiological predominance of VOC. There are clear signatures in the database compatible with large superspreading events (SSEs) coinciding chronologically with the worst epidemiological scenarios triggered by VOC. The data suggest that, without the randomness effect of the genetic drift facilitated by superspreading, new VOC of SARS-CoV-2 would have had more limited chance of success.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pandemics
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Trends Genet
Journal subject:
GENETICA
Year:
2021
Document type:
Article