Genomic Epidemiology of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, Colombia.

Genomic Epidemiology of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, Colombia. Emerg Infect Dis. 2020 Dec;26(12):2854-2862 Authors: Laiton-Donato K, Villabona-Arenas CJ, Usme-Ciro JA, Franco-Muñoz C, Álvarez-Díaz DA, Villabona-Arenas LS, Echeverría-Londoño S, Cucunubá ZM, Franco-Sierra ND, Flórez AC, Ferro C, Ajami NJ, Walteros DM, Prieto F, Durán CA, Ospina-Martínez ML, Mercado-Reyes M Abstract Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Colombia was first diagnosed in a traveler arriving from Italy on February 26, 2020. However, limited data are available on the origins and number of introductions of COVID-19 into the country. We sequenced the causative agent of COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), from 43 clinical samples we collected, along with another 79 genome sequences available from Colombia. We investigated the emergence and importation routes for SARS-CoV-2 into Colombia by using epidemiologic, historical air travel, and phylogenetic observations. Our study provides evidence of multiple introductions, mostly from Europe, and documents >12 lineages. Phylogenetic findings validate the lineage diversity, support multiple importation events, and demonstrate the evolutionary relationship of epidemiologically linked transmission chains. Our results reconstruct the early evolutionary history of SARS-CoV-2 in Colombia and highlight the advantages of genome sequencing to complement COVID-19 ...
Source: Emerging Infectious Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Emerg Infect Dis Source Type: research