The Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University Ave, El Paso, TX 79968, USA.
Border Biomedical Research Center, The University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University Ave, El Paso, TX 79968, USA.
Viruses. 2023 Feb 28;15(3):658. doi: 10.3390/v15030658.
COVID-19, caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), remains an ongoing global health challenge. This study analyzed 3641 SARS-CoV-2 positive samples from the El Paso, Texas, community and hospitalized patients over 48 weeks from Fall 2021 to Summer 2022. The binational community along the U.S. southern border was predominantly SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant (B.1.617.2) positive for a 5-week period from September 2021 to January 2022 and quickly transitioned to the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529), which was first detected at the end of December 2021. Omicron replaced Delta as the predominant detectable variant in the community and was associated with a sharp increase in COVID-19 positivity rate, related hospitalizations, and newly reported cases. In this study, Omicron BA.1, BA.4, and BA.5 variants were overwhelmingly associated with S-gene dropout by qRT-PCR analysis unlike the Delta and Omicron BA.2 variants. The study reveals that a dominant variant, like Delta, can be rapidly replaced by a more transmissible variant, like Omicron, within a dynamic metropolitan border city, necessitating enhanced monitoring, readiness, and response from public health officials and healthcare workers.
新型冠状病毒病（COVID-19）由严重急性呼吸系统综合征冠状病毒 2 型（SARS-CoV-2）引起，仍然是全球持续存在的健康挑战。本研究分析了 2021 年秋季至 2022 年夏季期间来自德克萨斯州埃尔帕索社区和住院患者的 3641 份 SARS-CoV-2 阳性样本，时间长达 48 周。美国南部边境的这个跨国社区在 2021 年 9 月至 2022 年 1 月的 5 周内主要为 SARS-CoV-2 德尔塔变体（B.1.617.2）阳性，随后迅速过渡到奥密克戎变体（B.1.1.529），该变体于 2021 年 12 月底首次被发现。奥密克戎取代德尔塔成为社区中主要可检测的变体，与 COVID-19 阳性率、相关住院率和新报告病例的急剧增加相关。在这项研究中，与德尔塔和奥密克戎 BA.2 变体不同，qRT-PCR 分析显示奥密克戎 BA.1、BA.4 和 BA.5 变体与 S 基因脱落高度相关。该研究表明，像德尔塔这样的优势变体可以在动态大都市边境城市中被更具传染性的变体（如奥密克戎）迅速取代，这需要公共卫生官员和医护人员加强监测、准备和应对。
