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Genomic epidemiology of novel coronavirus (HCoV-19)

nextstrain.org

11–20 of 44 posts

Re: Genomic epidemiology of novel coronavirus (HCoV-19)

#11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We know the virus is widespread in Iran. We don't know if it is widespread in Africa or New Zealand.

No more so in Africa or in New Zealand [1] than in Finland, which is represented in this dataset. I'm not really seeing the basis for whatever conspiracy theory the original parent comment seems like it wants to point toward, is what I'm getting at here. These are the early stages of what looks to be a pandemic of a disease at least an order of magnitude, possibly several orders of magnitude [2], more lethal than sea…

Estimates are dropping down from 2% as we discover lots of cases that were mild or asymptomatic.

The New England Journal of Medicine says it may likely be considerably less than 1%:

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2002387

People should remember the context of a respiratory disease in China. 2/3rds of men smoke, and air pollution is common. Things also spread faster there as it’s densely populated with lower hygiene standards than developed countries (for example: spitting is still common in some areas).

Re: Genomic epidemiology of novel coronavirus (HCoV-19)

#12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iran isn't represented in this dataset. Neither is Africa or New Zealand. I'm not sure what's meant to be ominous about any of this.

We know the virus is widespread in Iran. We don't know if it is widespread in Africa or New Zealand.

Algeria/Tunisia/Egypt all have declared cases coming from foreign countries.

Re: Genomic epidemiology of novel coronavirus (HCoV-19)

#13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No more so in Africa or in New Zealand [1] than in Finland, which is represented in this dataset. I'm not really seeing the basis for whatever conspiracy theory the original parent comment seems like it wants to point toward, is what I'm getting at here. These are the early stages of what looks to be a pandemic of a disease at least an order of magnitude, possibly several orders of magnitude [2], more lethal than sea…

Estimates are dropping down from 2% as we discover lots of cases that were mild or asymptomatic. The New England Journal of Medicine says it may likely be considerably less than 1%: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2002387 People should remember the context of a respiratory disease in China. 2/3rds of men smoke, and air pollution is common. Things also spread faster there as it’s densely populated with lowe…

Suppose you're right about reasons why it spreads fast & lethally in China. How do you explain the fast spread and lethality outside China?

Re: Genomic epidemiology of novel coronavirus (HCoV-19)

#14
Has anyone tried to play the "movie" in the map. As I understand it, there has already been back-propagation of the virus from North America back to Asia. Can anyone confirm this is actually the case?

Edit: On a separate note, this tool is one of the best "web meets science" websites I've ever seen. Really nice work for those involved in its creation.

Re: Genomic epidemiology of novel coronavirus (HCoV-19)

#15
So am I reading this correctly that for example the strain in Lombardy Italy/CDG1/2020 (GISAID EPI ISL 412973) from 20.02.2020, has its origin in the strain collected in Bavaria Germany/BavPat1/2020 (GISAID EPI ISL 406862) from 28.01.2020.

So the outbreak in Bavaria that was thought be contained somehow made its way to Italy? Or do these kind of interpretations not make any sense?

Re: Genomic epidemiology of novel coronavirus (HCoV-19)

#16

So am I reading this correctly that for example the strain in Lombardy Italy/CDG1/2020 (GISAID EPI ISL 412973) from 20.02.2020, has its origin in the strain collected in Bavaria Germany/BavPat1/2020 (GISAID EPI ISL 406862) from 28.01.2020. So the outbreak in Bavaria that was thought be contained somehow made its way to Italy? Or do these kind of interpretations not make any sense?

That seems like the right interpretation. The second case in Washington State appears to be a descendant of the first case on January 19, so we’ve also had about 6 weeks of undetected spread here from a case that was believed to be contained. It goes to show that “contained” doesn’t mean much when you only test people with symptoms but you know that the virus can spread asymptomatically.

Early on the official guidance was that asymptomatic spread while possible is not playing a major role in global transmissions. Now we’re seeing the results of that position.

Re: Genomic epidemiology of novel coronavirus (HCoV-19)

#17

So am I reading this correctly that for example the strain in Lombardy Italy/CDG1/2020 (GISAID EPI ISL 412973) from 20.02.2020, has its origin in the strain collected in Bavaria Germany/BavPat1/2020 (GISAID EPI ISL 406862) from 28.01.2020. So the outbreak in Bavaria that was thought be contained somehow made its way to Italy? Or do these kind of interpretations not make any sense?

That seems like the right interpretation. The second case in Washington State appears to be a descendant of the first case on January 19, so we’ve also had about 6 weeks of undetected spread here from a case that was believed to be contained. It goes to show that “contained” doesn’t mean much when you only test people with symptoms but you know that the virus can spread asymptomatically. Early on the official guidanc…

Or people having just a mild variant which does not cause fever and airway problems. If they think it is something else, or don't care, it is just as well a transfer risk as asymptomatic individuals and in my opinion at least as likely.

Re: Genomic epidemiology of novel coronavirus (HCoV-19)

#18
Am I reading the documentation correctly, that you have to register at GISAID to download the sequences, and that you can't publish any part of the sequences in subsequent papers? Would it be problematic in any way to just release them under a CC-BY-SA-NC license?

Re: Genomic epidemiology of novel coronavirus (HCoV-19)

#19
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems like the right interpretation. The second case in Washington State appears to be a descendant of the first case on January 19, so we’ve also had about 6 weeks of undetected spread here from a case that was believed to be contained. It goes to show that “contained” doesn’t mean much when you only test people with symptoms but you know that the virus can spread asymptomatically. Early on the official guidanc…

Or people having just a mild variant which does not cause fever and airway problems. If they think it is something else, or don't care, it is just as well a transfer risk as asymptomatic individuals and in my opinion at least as likely.

This variant has killed two people already, so it's not too mild.

Re: Genomic epidemiology of novel coronavirus (HCoV-19)

#20

Has anyone tried to play the "movie" in the map. As I understand it, there has already been back-propagation of the virus from North America back to Asia. Can anyone confirm this is actually the case? Edit: On a separate note, this tool is one of the best "web meets science" websites I've ever seen. Really nice work for those involved in its creation.

That backprop is most likely an artifact of a sample on a lineage being sequenced in North America, but the lineage also continues in Asia, where that lineage had not been sequenced yet. As in, someone in Asia spread COVID-19 to two people, one of whom traveled to North American and had their virus sequenced. The lineage also continued in Asia and was eventually sequenced days/weeks later, so the inferred tree includes a North American sample seeming to give rise to more Asian infections.
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