Comprehensive contact tracing during an outbreak of alpha-variant SARS-CoV-2 in a rural community reveals less viral genomic diversity and higher household secondary attack rates than expected.

ABSTRACT: Sequencing of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genomes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has generated a wealth of data on viral evolution across populations, but only a few studies have so far explored SARS-CoV-2 evolution across large connected transmission networks. Here, we couple data from SARS-CoV-2 sequencing with contact tracing data from an outbreak with a single origin in a rural Norwegian community where samples from all exposed persons were collected prospectively. A total of 134 nasopharyngeal samples were positive by PCR. Among the 121 retrievable genomes, 81 were identical to the genome of the introductor, thus demonstrating that genomics beyond clustering genotypically similar viral genomes to confirm relatedness offers limited additional value to

SUBMITTER: Sivertsen A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11351100 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature