Detailed phylogenetic analysis tracks transmission of distinct SARS-COV-2 variants from China and Europe to West Africa.

ABSTRACT: SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in December 2019 in China and raised fears it could overwhelm healthcare systems worldwide. Mutations of the virus are monitored by the GISAID database from which we downloaded sequences from four West African countries Ghana, Gambia, Senegal and Nigeria from February 2020 to April 2020. We subjected the sequences to phylogenetic analysis employing the nextstrain pipeline. We found country-specific patterns of viral variants and supplemented that with data on novel variants from June 2021. Until April 2020, variants carrying the crucial Europe-associated D614G amino acid change were predominantly found in Senegal and Gambia, and combinations of late variants with and early variants without D614G in Ghana and Nigeria. In June 2021

SUBMITTER: Wruck W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8548492 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature