Department of Microbiology and Immunology, at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
mBio. 2017 Oct 10;8(5):e01613-17. doi: 10.1128/mBio.01613-17.
Despite tight biosecurity measures, an outbreak of respiratory disease rapidly spread across the Icelandic equine population in 2010. Horse transportation was brought to a halt in order to contain the spread of the infectious agent. In a recent article, Björnsdóttir and colleagues (S. Björnsdóttir et al., mBio 8:e00826-17, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00826-17) employ the power and resolution of "genomic epidemiology," the combination of whole genomic sequencing and epidemiological approaches, to examine the source and spread of the outbreak. Intriguingly, the outbreak was not viral in origin, but linked to a bacterial "commensal" subsp. infection. A national sampling strategy coupled with population genomics revealed that the outbreak was most likely driven by a subsp. sequence type 209 (ST209) infection that spread nationally from a single source. This retrospective study demonstrates the power of genomics applied on a national scale to unravel the cause of a significant biosecurity threat.
尽管采取了严格的生物安全措施，2010 年冰岛马群还是爆发了一场迅速蔓延的呼吸道疾病。为了控制传染源的传播，停止了马匹运输。在最近的一篇文章中，Björnsdóttir 及其同事（S. Björnsdóttir 等人，mBio 8:e00826-17, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00826-17）利用“基因组流行病学”（全基因组测序和流行病学方法的结合）的强大功能和分辨率，来研究疫情的源头和传播。有趣的是，疫情并非源自病毒，而是与一种细菌“共生体”亚种有关。一项全国性的抽样策略加上群体基因组学研究揭示，疫情很可能是由一种 亚种 ST209 感染引起的，这种感染从一个单一的源头在全国范围内传播。这项回顾性研究展示了将基因组学应用于全国范围内以揭示重大生物安全威胁原因的强大力量。
