SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance in Rondônia, Brazilian Western Amazon

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 has spread rapidly around the world, with Brazil currently considered an epicenter of the pandemic. The Northern region has the second highest incidence coefficient, as well as the third highest mortality rate in the country. This study aimed to investigate information about the evolutionary history of epidemic spread and genetic aspects of strains isolated on the Western Amazon, in the State of Rondônia, Brazil. It was possible to detect a total of 22 mutations. Some of these alterations may possibly be related to effects on transmissibility, the fidelity of RNA replication, the ability of cancer patients to respond to infection, beyond a mutation that emerged after the introduction of SARS-CoV-2 in Rondônia. At least two events of introduction were detected, corresponding to the B.1 and B.1.1 European lineages. An introduction was observed possibly through Argentina, where strains originated that circulated in the Minas Gerais and Ceará Brazilian states, prior to Rondônia (B.1.), as well as through the Minas Gerais state and the Federal District, which gave rise to strains that spread to Rondônia, from the capital to more rural parts of the state (B.1.1.). The findings show the need to monitor the genetic epidemiology of COVID-19, in order to surveil the virus’s evolution, dispersion and diversity.

Genomic surveillance: Circulating lineages and genomic variation of SARS-CoV-2 in early pandemic in Ceará state, Northeast Brazil

“…Genome sequencing is an essential step to understand lineage dispersion and to detect mutations. The first viral genomes sequenced available in GISAID from Ceará were classified as B.1 ( Candido et al, 2020 ), and similar results have been reported for other Brazilian states ( Botelho-Souza et al, 2021 ; dos Santos et al, 2021 ). Lineage B.1 was predominant worldwide, especially in Europe, and emerged around January 2020 ( Rambaut et al, 2020 ), contributing to the early viral epidemic dynamics in Brazil ( Candido et al, 2020 ).…”

Genomic Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2: Study of Cases Intradomiciliary Infection in Brazilian Amazonia

“…This study showed that 54% of the 22 participating families were male and 46% were female, with a proximal profile of uniformity in the parameters of gender differentiation, which is reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) worldwide [24]. Studies report that there is a verification of the profile of higher incidence in regions that have higher population density [24,25], which was verified in the study where the highest number of infected families is found in the city of Porto Velho, capital of the state of Rondônia, which has approximately 548,952 inhabitants and that since the beginning of the pandemic showed high rates of infection compared to other municipalities in the state [26,27].…”

Molecular dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic in Espirito Santo (Brazil) and border States

“…The epidemiological data of COVID-19 in the State registers more than 13,700 deaths, and more than 950 thousand cases of the disease 11 . Nevertheless, exploratory and evolutionary studies were only conducted in some States of the country, such as Minas Gerais - MG 12 , Rondonia - RO 13 and Pernambuco - PE 14 . Therefore, taken into account this bottleneck of reported information, this study aimed at understanding the epidemiological dynamics of the virus in ES State, as well as its possible routes of transmission and dissemination.…”