Publications by authors named "Aimee Ceniseros"
The 2022 multicountry mpox outbreak concurrent with the ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic further highlighted the need for genomic surveillance and rapid pathogen whole-genome sequencing. While metagenomic sequencing approaches have been used to sequence many of the early mpox infections, these methods are resource intensive and require samples with high viral DNA concentrations. Given the atypical clinical presentation of cases associated with the outbreak and uncertainty regarding viral load across both the course of infection and anatomical body sites, there was an urgent need for a more sensitive and broadly applicable sequencing approach.
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- The 2022 monkeypox outbreak amid the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the essential need for improved genomic surveillance and rapid whole genome sequencing methods.
- Traditional metagenomic sequencing requires high viral DNA samples and is resource-intensive, prompting the development of a more sensitive approach using PrimalSeq, originally designed for Zika virus, now adapted for monkeypox.
- Findings showed that amplicon-based sequencing resulted in better genome coverage, especially in samples with lower viral loads, leading to a recommendation of using samples with PCR cycle thresholds below 31 Ct to optimize sequencing efforts.
SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR, the gold standard for diagnostic testing, may not be readily available or logistically applicable for routine COVID-19 testing in many rural communities in the United States. In this validation study, we compared the BinaxNOW™ COVID-19 Test Ag Card with SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR in 214 participants who sought COVID-19 testing from a local public health district in Idaho, USA. The median age of participants was 35 and 82.
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