SARS-CoV-2 sequencing: The technological initiative to strengthen early warning systems for public health emergencies in Latin America and the Caribbean

SARS-CoV-2 sequencing: The technological initiative to strengthen early warning systems for public health emergencies in Latin America and the Caribbean Biomedica. 2020 10 30;40(Supl. 2):188-197 Authors: Álvarez-Díaz DA, Laiton-Donato K, Franco-Muñoz C, Mercado-Reyes M Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 is a public health problem on a scale unprecedented in the last 100 years, as has been the response focused on the rapid genomic characterization of SARS-CoV-2 in virtually all regions of the planet. This pandemic emerged during the era of genomic epidemiology, a science fueled by continued advances in next-generation sequencing. Since its recent appearance, genomic epidemiology included the precise identification of new lineages or species of pathogens and the reconstruction of their genetic variability in real time, evidenced in past outbreaks of influenza H1N1, MERS, and SARS. However, the global and uncontrolled scale of this pandemic created a scenario where genomic epidemiology was put into practice en masse, from the rapid identification of SARS-CoV-2 to the registration of new lineages and their active surveillance throughout the world. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the availability of genomic data on circulating pathogens in several Latin America and the Caribbean countries was scarce or nil. With the arrival of SARS-CoV-2, this scenario changed significantly, although the amount of available information...
Source: Biomedica : Revista del Instituto Nacional de Salud - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Biomedica Source Type: research