Search

The article focuses on the use of wastewater surveillance to track pathogens spread by fecal-oral transmission of cholera and polio, and mentions severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) wastewater surveillance. Topics discussed include pathogen detection enabled by wastewater monitoring, determination of the genomic sequencing, and expansion of waste-water surveillance capabilities.

The article explores why Covid-19 testing should be considered a public health tool for detecting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV- 2), and controlling its transmission by investing in large-scale testing capacity. Topics include dominated and confused decision-making with regard to testing and the evaluation of tests is unsuitable; and identifying patients by performing test on symptomatic patients or asymptomatic individuals who are at high risk of infection.

Understanding how severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in 2019 is critical to preventing future zoonotic outbreaks before they become the next pandemic. The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, was identified as a likely source of cases in early reports, but later this conclusion became controversial. We show here that the earliest known COVID-19 cases from December 2019, including those without reported direct links, were geographically centered on this market. We report that live SARS-CoV-2–susceptible mammals were sold at the market in late 2019 and that within the market, SARS-CoV-2–positive environmental samples were spatially associated with vendors selling live mammals. Although there is insufficient evidence to define upstream events, and exact circumstances remain obscure, our analyses indicate that the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 occurred through the live wildlife trade in China and show that the Huanan market was the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In its largest outbreak, Ebola virus disease is spreading through Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria. We sequenced 99 Ebola virus genomes from 78 patients in Sierra Leone to ~2000x coverage. We observed a rapid accumulation of interhost and intrahost genetic variation, allowing us to characterize patterns of viral transmission over the initial weeks of the epidemic. This West African variant likely diverged from central African lineages around 2004, crossed from Guinea to Sierra Leone in May 2014, and has exhibited sustained human-to-human transmission subsequently, with no evidence of additional zoonotic sources. Because many of the mutations alter protein sequences and other biologically meaningful targets, they should be monitored for impact on diagnostics, vaccines, and therapies critical to outbreak response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses research that suggests that outbreaks of Lassa, Marburg, and Ebola hemorrhagic fever viruses in Africa can be attributed to improvements in the diagnosis and detection of common and widespread diseases, rather than evidence of emerging pathogens. It is noted that seroprevalence surveys indicate widespread exposure to these viruses in sub-Saharan Africa, possibly from contact with animal disease reservoirs such as the Mastomys natalensis mouse, fruit bat, and nonhuman primates. Other topics include analysis of the evolutionary divergence of these viruses pointing to ancient origins, genomic analysis of human adaptations to hemorrhagic fever viruses, and viral research at community health clinics in Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

Hoenen et al. (Reports, 3 April 2015, p. 117; published online 26 March) suggested that the Ebola virus Makona responsible for the West African epidemic evolved more slowly than previously reported. We show that this was based on corrupted data. An erratum provided a rate compatible with the initial and later, more precise, estimates but did not correctly state the nature of the error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]