Widespread exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in wildlife communities.

Pervasive SARS-CoV-2 infections in humans have led to multiple transmission events to animals. While SARS-CoV-2 has a potential broad wildlife host range, most documented infections have been in captive animals and a single wildlife species, the white-tailed deer. The full extent of SARS-CoV-2 exposure among wildlife communities and the factors that influence wildlife transmission risk remain unknown.

Trust and Biomedical Research Engagement of Minority and Under-Represented Communities in Mississippi, USA.

Trust is critical to the development and maintenance of effective research collaborations and community engagement. The purpose of this study was to assess the current attitudes and level of trust pertaining to health research among residents of Central Mississippi, the priority health region for the Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Center for Health Disparities Research (RCHDR) at Jackson State University. The cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2021 to April 2022.

A comparative analysis exposes an amplification delay distinctive to SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants of clinical and public health relevance.

Mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome may negatively impact a diagnostic test, have no effect, or turn into an opportunity for rapid molecular screening of variants. Using an in-house Emergency Use Authorized RT-qPCR-based COVID-19 diagnostic assay, we combined sequence surveillance of viral variants and computed PCR efficiencies for mismatched templates. We found no significant mismatches for the , , and set of assay primers until the Omicron variant emerged in late November 2021.