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Cryptic transmission of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 revealed by genomic epidemiology
- troydavis 7y agoThis blog post was written by the scientist who discovered the first suspected community-transmitted case in Washington last week: > Last week the Seattle Flu Study started screening samples for COVID-19 as described here. Soon after starting screening we found a first positive in a sample from Snohomish County. The case was remarkable in that it was a "community case", only the second recognized in the US, someone who had sought treatment for flu-like symptoms, been tested for flu and then sent home owing to mild disease. After this was diagnostically confirmed by Shoreline Public Health labs on Fri Feb 28 we were able to immediately get the sample USA/WA2/2020 on a sequencer and have a genome available on Sat Feb 29. The results were remarkable. The WA2 case was identical to WA1 except that it had three additional mutations.
- rolph 7y agothis is an explanation of how a viral lineage is traced by genetic means. this also explains how error prone mechanisms can lead to genetic changes that culminate over time into a new viral character.