AI Article Synopsis

  • The COVID-19 pandemic has led to rapid mutations of the virus SARS-CoV-2, resulting in the emergence of new variants that affect public health.
  • The Lazio region has established a genomic sequencing laboratory network (WGSnet-Lazio) to closely monitor these variants and work alongside an epidemiological surveillance center (SERESMI).
  • Data collected from February 2020 to October 2022 show that this sequencing effort is effective for understanding variant circulation and supporting public health efforts during the pandemic.

Article Abstract

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, large-scale genomic sequencing has immediately pointed out that SARS-CoV-2 has rapidly mutated during the course of the pandemic, resulting in the emergence of variants with a public health impact. In this context, strictly monitoring the circulating strains via NGS has proven to be crucial for the early identification of new emerging variants and the study of the genomic evolution and transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Following national and international guidelines, the Lazio region has created a sequencing laboratory network (WGSnet-Lazio) that works in synergy with the reference center for epidemiological surveillance (SERESMI) to monitor the circulation of SARS-CoV-2. Sequencing was carried out with the aims of characterizing outbreak transmission dynamics, performing the genomic analysis of viruses infecting specific categories of patients (i.e., immune-depressed, travelers, and people with severe symptoms) and randomly monitoring variant circulation. Here we report data emerging from sequencing activities carried out by WGSnet-Lazio (from February 2020 to October 2022) linked with epidemiological data to correlate the circulation of variants with the clinical and demographic characteristics of patients. The model of the sequencing network developed in the Lazio region proved to be a useful tool for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance and to support public health measures for epidemic containment.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10674723PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v15112192DOI Listing

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