Laboratorio de Virología Celular, Centro de Microbiología y Biología Celular, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas 1020, Venezuela.
Laboratorio de Virología Molecular, Centro de Microbiología y Biología Celular, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas 1020, Venezuela.
Viruses. 2023 Jun 28;15(7):1460. doi: 10.3390/v15071460.
The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern (VOC), Omicron, has been characterized by an explosive number of cases in almost every part of the world. The dissemination of different sub-lineages and recombinant genomes also led to several posterior waves in many countries. The circulation of this VOC and its major sub-lineages (BA.1 to BA.5) was monitored in community cases and in international travelers returning to Venezuela by a rapid partial sequencing method. The specific sub-lineage assignment was performed by complete genome sequencing. Epidemic waves of SARS-CoV-2 cases were observed among international travelers during 2022, a situation not seen before December 2021. The succession of the Omicron VOC sub-lineages BA.1 to BA.5 occurred sequentially, except for BA.3, which was almost not detected. However, the sub-lineages generally circulated two months earlier in international travelers than in community cases. The diversity of Omicron sub-lineages found in international travelers was related to the one found in the USA, consistent with the most frequent destination of international travel from Venezuela this year. These differences are compatible with the delay observed sometimes in Latin American countries in the circulation of the different lineages of the Omicron VOC. Once the sub-lineages were introduced in the country, community transmission was responsible for generating a characteristic distribution of them, with a predominance of sub-lineages not necessarily similar to the one observed in travelers or neighboring countries.
关注变异株（VOC）奥密克戎的出现，其特点是在世界几乎每个地区都出现了大量病例。不同亚谱系和重组基因组的传播也导致许多国家出现了几波后续疫情。通过快速部分测序方法，在社区病例和返回委内瑞拉的国际旅行者中监测这种 VOC 及其主要亚谱系（BA.1 到 BA.5）的传播情况。通过完整基因组测序进行特定亚谱系的分配。2022 年，国际旅行者中观察到了 SARS-CoV-2 病例的流行波，这是 2021 年 12 月之前从未出现过的情况。奥密克戎 VOC 亚谱系 BA.1 到 BA.5 的相继出现，除了 BA.3 几乎未被检测到。然而，亚谱系在国际旅行者中的传播通常比在社区病例中早两个月。在国际旅行者中发现的奥密克戎亚谱系的多样性与在美国发现的亚谱系有关，这与今年委内瑞拉国际旅行最常去的目的地一致。这些差异与拉丁美洲国家在奥密克戎 VOC 的不同谱系传播中有时观察到的延迟是一致的。一旦亚谱系在该国引入，社区传播就会导致它们的特征分布，其中亚谱系的优势不一定与旅行者或邻国观察到的相似。
