Tracing the First Days of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in Greece and the Role of the First Imported Group of Travelers
ABSTRACT The first SARS-CoV-2 case in Greece was confirmed on February 26, 2020, and since then, multiple strains have circulated the country, leading to regional and country-wide outbreaks. Our aim is to enlighten the events that took place during the first days of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Greece...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Society for Microbiology
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Microbiology Spectrum |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/spectrum.02134-22 |
| _version_ | 1798003841119027200 |
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| author | Maria Bousali Vasiliki Pogka Giannis Vatsellas Theodoros Loupis Emmanouil I. Athanasiadis Katerina Zoi Dimitris Thanos Dimitrios Paraskevis Andreas Mentis Timokratis Karamitros |
| author_facet | Maria Bousali Vasiliki Pogka Giannis Vatsellas Theodoros Loupis Emmanouil I. Athanasiadis Katerina Zoi Dimitris Thanos Dimitrios Paraskevis Andreas Mentis Timokratis Karamitros |
| author_sort | Maria Bousali |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT The first SARS-CoV-2 case in Greece was confirmed on February 26, 2020, and since then, multiple strains have circulated the country, leading to regional and country-wide outbreaks. Our aim is to enlighten the events that took place during the first days of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Greece, focusing on the role of the first imported group of travelers. We used whole-genome SARS-CoV-2 sequences obtained from the infected travelers of the group as well as Greece-derived and globally subsampled sequences and applied dedicated phylogenetics and phylodynamics tools as well as in-house-developed bioinformatics pipelines. Our analyses reveal the genetic variants circulating in Greece during the first days of the pandemic and the role of the group’s imported strains in the course of the first pandemic wave in Greece. The strain that dominated in Greece throughout the first wave, bearing the D614G mutation, was primarily imported from a certain group of travelers, while molecular and clinical data suggest that the infection of the travelers occurred in Egypt. Founder effects early in the pandemic are important for the success of certain strains, as those arriving early, several times, and to diverse locations lead to the formation of large transmission clusters that can be estimated using molecular epidemiology approaches and can be a useful surveillance tool for the prioritization of nonpharmaceutical interventions and combating present and future outbreaks. IMPORTANCE The strain that dominated in Greece during the first pandemic wave was primarily imported from a group of returning travelers in February 2020, while molecular and clinical data suggest that the origin of the transmission was Egypt. The observed molecular transmission clusters reflect the transmission dynamics of this particular strain bearing the D614G mutation while highlighting the necessity of their use as a surveillance tool for the prioritization of nonpharmaceutical interventions and combating present and future outbreaks. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T12:14:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-964d3a3aa12a4764ade27ae6df80aadb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2165-0497 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T12:14:03Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | American Society for Microbiology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Microbiology Spectrum |
| spelling | doaj.art-964d3a3aa12a4764ade27ae6df80aadb2022-12-22T04:24:26ZengAmerican Society for MicrobiologyMicrobiology Spectrum2165-04972022-12-0110610.1128/spectrum.02134-22Tracing the First Days of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in Greece and the Role of the First Imported Group of TravelersMaria Bousali0Vasiliki Pogka1Giannis Vatsellas2Theodoros Loupis3Emmanouil I. Athanasiadis4Katerina Zoi5Dimitris Thanos6Dimitrios Paraskevis7Andreas Mentis8Timokratis Karamitros9Bioinformatics and Applied Genomics Unit, Department of Microbiology, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, GreeceBioinformatics and Applied Genomics Unit, Department of Microbiology, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, GreeceGreek Genome Center, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA), Athens, GreeceGreek Genome Center, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA), Athens, GreeceGreek Genome Center, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA), Athens, GreeceGreek Genome Center, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA), Athens, GreeceGreek Genome Center, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA), Athens, GreeceDepartment of Hygiene Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, GreeceLaboratory of Medical Microbiology, Department of Microbiology, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, GreeceBioinformatics and Applied Genomics Unit, Department of Microbiology, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, GreeceABSTRACT The first SARS-CoV-2 case in Greece was confirmed on February 26, 2020, and since then, multiple strains have circulated the country, leading to regional and country-wide outbreaks. Our aim is to enlighten the events that took place during the first days of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Greece, focusing on the role of the first imported group of travelers. We used whole-genome SARS-CoV-2 sequences obtained from the infected travelers of the group as well as Greece-derived and globally subsampled sequences and applied dedicated phylogenetics and phylodynamics tools as well as in-house-developed bioinformatics pipelines. Our analyses reveal the genetic variants circulating in Greece during the first days of the pandemic and the role of the group’s imported strains in the course of the first pandemic wave in Greece. The strain that dominated in Greece throughout the first wave, bearing the D614G mutation, was primarily imported from a certain group of travelers, while molecular and clinical data suggest that the infection of the travelers occurred in Egypt. Founder effects early in the pandemic are important for the success of certain strains, as those arriving early, several times, and to diverse locations lead to the formation of large transmission clusters that can be estimated using molecular epidemiology approaches and can be a useful surveillance tool for the prioritization of nonpharmaceutical interventions and combating present and future outbreaks. IMPORTANCE The strain that dominated in Greece during the first pandemic wave was primarily imported from a group of returning travelers in February 2020, while molecular and clinical data suggest that the origin of the transmission was Egypt. The observed molecular transmission clusters reflect the transmission dynamics of this particular strain bearing the D614G mutation while highlighting the necessity of their use as a surveillance tool for the prioritization of nonpharmaceutical interventions and combating present and future outbreaks.https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/spectrum.02134-22SARS-CoV-2molecular epidemiologyphylogeneticsphylodynamicstransmission clustersinfectious disease surveillance |
| spellingShingle | Maria Bousali Vasiliki Pogka Giannis Vatsellas Theodoros Loupis Emmanouil I. Athanasiadis Katerina Zoi Dimitris Thanos Dimitrios Paraskevis Andreas Mentis Timokratis Karamitros Tracing the First Days of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in Greece and the Role of the First Imported Group of Travelers Microbiology Spectrum SARS-CoV-2 molecular epidemiology phylogenetics phylodynamics transmission clusters infectious disease surveillance |
| title | Tracing the First Days of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in Greece and the Role of the First Imported Group of Travelers |
| title_full | Tracing the First Days of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in Greece and the Role of the First Imported Group of Travelers |
| title_fullStr | Tracing the First Days of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in Greece and the Role of the First Imported Group of Travelers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tracing the First Days of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in Greece and the Role of the First Imported Group of Travelers |
| title_short | Tracing the First Days of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in Greece and the Role of the First Imported Group of Travelers |
| title_sort | tracing the first days of the sars cov 2 pandemic in greece and the role of the first imported group of travelers |
| topic | SARS-CoV-2 molecular epidemiology phylogenetics phylodynamics transmission clusters infectious disease surveillance |
| url | https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/spectrum.02134-22 |
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