Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA.
Nebraska Center for Virology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 68504, USA.
Sci Rep. 2023 Jul 19;13(1):11657. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-38544-5.
SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the family Coronaviridae which includes multiple human pathogens that have an outsized impact on aging populations. As a novel human pathogen, SARS-CoV-2 is undergoing continuous adaptation to this new host species and there is evidence of this throughout the scientific and public literature. However, most investigations of SARS-CoV-2 evolution have focused on large-scale collections of data across diverse populations and/or living environments. Here we investigate SARS-CoV-2 evolution in epidemiologically linked individuals within a single outbreak at a skilled nursing facility beginning with initial introduction of the pathogen. The data demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 was introduced to the facility multiple times without establishing an interfacility transmission chain, followed by a single introduction that infected many individuals within a week. This large-scale introduction by a single genotype then persisted in the facility. SARS-CoV-2 sequences were investigated at both the consensus and intra-host variation levels. Understanding the variability in SARS-CoV-2 during transmission chains will assist in understanding the spread of this disease and can ultimately inform best practices for mitigation strategies.
SARS-CoV-2 属于冠状病毒科，该科包括多种对老年人口影响巨大的人类病原体。作为一种新型人类病原体，SARS-CoV-2 正在不断适应这种新宿主物种，这在科学和公共文献中都有证据。然而，大多数关于 SARS-CoV-2 进化的研究都集中在对不同人群和/或生活环境的大规模数据收集上。在这里，我们研究了从病原体最初引入开始，在一个熟练护理设施内的一个单一暴发中具有流行病学关联的个体中 SARS-CoV-2 的进化。这些数据表明，SARS-CoV-2 多次传入该设施，但未建立设施间传播链，随后是一次单一传入，在一周内感染了许多人。这种由单一基因型引起的大规模传入随后在该设施中持续存在。我们对 SARS-CoV-2 的共识序列和个体内变异水平进行了研究。了解传播链中 SARS-CoV-2 的变异性将有助于了解该疾病的传播，并最终为缓解策略提供最佳实践信息。
