Dataset Information

First Report of SARS-CoV-2 Lineage B.1.1.7 (Alpha Variant) in Ecuador, January 2021.

ABSTRACT: On January 5 2021, Ecuadorian COVID-19 genomic surveillance program detected a suspicious case of the B.1.1.7 lineage (alpha variant) of SARS-CoV-2 in Los Rios province, later confirmed by genome sequencing. The patient travelled from the UK by the end of December 2020. By contact tracing, several new cases were detected confirming B.1.1.7 transmission and spreading in Ecuador.

SUBMITTER: Carrazco-Montalvo A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8664343 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

First Report of SARS-CoV-2 Lineage B.1.1.7 (Alpha Variant) in Ecuador, January 2021.

Carrazco-Montalvo Andres A Bruno Alfredo A de Mora Domenica D Olmedo Maritza M Garces Jimmy J Paez Michelle M Regato-Arrata Mary M Gonzalez Manuel M Romero Jorge J Mestanza Orson O Freire-Paspuel Byron B Gaviria Anibal A Orlando Solon-Alberto SA Garcia-Bereguiain Miguel Angel MA Patino Leandro L

Infection and drug resistance 20211206

On January 5 2021, Ecuadorian COVID-19 genomic surveillance program detected a suspicious case of the B.1.1.7 lineage (alpha variant) of SARS-CoV-2 in Los Rios province, later confirmed by genome sequencing. The patient travelled from the UK by the end of December 2020. By contact tracing, several new cases were detected confirming B.1.1.7 transmission and spreading in Ecuador. ...[more]

PMID: 34908852

Similar Datasets

Project description:SARS-CoV-2 variants with multiple amino acid mutations in the spike protein are emerging in different parts of the world, raising concerns regarding their possible impact on human immune response and vaccine efficacy against the virus. Recently, a variant named lineage B.1.1.7 was detected and shown to be rapidly spreading across the UK since November 2020. As surveillance for these SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) becomes critical, we have investigated the use of environmental surveillance (ES) for the rapid detection and quantification of B.1.1.7 viruses in sewage as a way of monitoring its expansion that is independent on the investigation of identified clinical cases. Next-generation sequencing analysis of amplicons synthesized from sewage concentrates revealed the presence of B.1.1.7 mutations in viral sequences, first identified in a sample collected in London on 10 November 2020 and shown to rapidly increase in frequency to >95% in January 2021, in agreement with clinical data over the same period. We show that ES can provide an early warning of VOCs becoming prevalent in the population and that, as well as B.1.1.7, our method can detect VOCs B.1.351 and P.1, first identified in South Africa and Brazil, respectively, and other viruses carrying critical spike mutation E484K, known to have an effect on virus antigenicity. Although we did not detect such mutation in viral RNAs from sewage, we did detect mutations at amino acids 478, 490, and 494, located close to amino acid 484 in the spike protein structure and known to also have an effect on antigenicity. IMPORTANCE The recent appearance and growth of new SARS-CoV-2 variants represent a major challenge for the control of the COVID-19 pandemic. These variants of concern contain mutations affecting antigenicity, which raises concerns on their possible impact on human immune response to the virus and vaccine efficacy against them. Here, we show how environmental surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 can be used to help us understand virus transmission patterns and provide an early warning of variants becoming prevalent in the population. We describe the detection and quantification of variant B.1.1.7, first identified in southeast England in sewage samples from London (UK) before widespread transmission of this variant was obvious from clinical cases. Variant B.1.1.7 was first detected in a sample from early November 2020, with the frequency of B.1.1.7 mutations detected in sewage rapidly increasing to >95% in January 2021, in agreement with increasing SARS-CoV-2 infections associated with B.1.1.7 viruses.

Dataset Information

First Report of SARS-CoV-2 Lineage B.1.1.7 (Alpha Variant) in Ecuador, January 2021.

Publications

First Report of SARS-CoV-2 Lineage B.1.1.7 (Alpha Variant) in Ecuador, January 2021.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets