SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant: Current Perspectives and New Developments

A special issue of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease (ISSN 2414-6366). This special issue belongs to the section "Infectious Diseases".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 January 2023) | Viewed by 2054

Special Issue Editors

National Health Commission (NHC) Key Laboratory of Medical Virology and Viral Diseases, National institute for viral disease control and prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 102206, China
Interests: pathogen discovery; molecular diagnostics; detection; virus
Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Siena, Via Aldo Moro 2, 53100 Siena, Italy
Interests: medicinal chemistry; small molecules; drug discovery; structure-activity relationships; anti-infective agents; parasitic diseases; chemotherapeutics; synthesis of biologically active compounds
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The original severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) first identified at the end of 2019 has evolved rapidly, and a variety of variants have emerged. After the Omicron variant (BA.1) was first identified in South Africa in November 2021, it quickly spread worldwide and  immediately raised global concerns about its transmissibility, pathogenicity, and immune evasion. Omicron comprised three lineages, BA.1, BA.2, and BA.3. BA.1 caused most of the infections in South Africa and was later replaced by BA2. Subsequently, BA2 was a predominant subvariant worldwide and in some countries was responsible for a great number of cases, hospitalization, and deaths. Recently, BA.4 and BA.5 were identified in South Africa and were associated with the current resurgence in infections throughout the world, and they are becoming much more efficient in transmission and more likely to evade immunity than other Omicron subvariants. As our global battle with the pandemic is far from over, this Special Issue aims to provide scientists and professionals worldwide with the latest research developments in the fields of Omicron variant epidemic characteristics, host susceptibility, intervention measures, immune response and evasion, vaccine administration, differential detection, genome surveillance, antiviral drug design, and evolutionary investigation. We expect that our enhanced understanding of Omicron variants could be used in ways that help to guide the current pandemic response and yield benefits for years to come. We welcome commentary, original research, and review papers to address the new developments and perspectives of Omicron variants.

Prof. Dr. Xuejun Ma
Prof. Dr. Sandra Gemma
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • transmissibility
  • pathogenicity
  • immune evasion
  • evolutionary analysis
  • detection techniques
  • genome surveillance
  • drugs and antibodies
  • intervention strategy

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 2768 KiB  
Article
Global Distribution, Dispersal Patterns, and Trend of Several Omicron Subvariants of SARS-CoV-2 across the Globe
by Ioannis Kopsidas, Sofia Karagiannidou, Evangelia Georgia Kostaki, Dimitra Kousi, Eirini Douka, Petros P. Sfikakis, Serafeim Moustakidis, Christos Kokkotis, Dimitrios Tsaopoulos, Ioulia Tseti, Theoklis Zaoutis and Dimitrios Paraskevis
Trop. Med. Infect. Dis. 2022, 7(11), 373; https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed7110373 - 12 Nov 2022
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 1632
Abstract
Our study aims to describe the global distribution and dispersal patterns of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants. Genomic surveillance data were extracted from the CoV-Spectrum platform, searching for BA.1*, BA.2*, BA.3*, BA.4*, and BA.5* variants by geographic region. BA.1* increased in November 2021 in [...] Read more.
Our study aims to describe the global distribution and dispersal patterns of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants. Genomic surveillance data were extracted from the CoV-Spectrum platform, searching for BA.1*, BA.2*, BA.3*, BA.4*, and BA.5* variants by geographic region. BA.1* increased in November 2021 in South Africa, with a similar increase across all continents in early December 2021. BA.1* did not reach 100% dominance in all continents. The spread of BA.2*, first described in South Africa, differed greatly by geographic region, in contrast to BA.1*, which followed a similar global expansion, firstly occurring in Asia and subsequently in Africa, Europe, Oceania, and North and South America. BA.4* and BA.5* followed a different pattern, where BA.4* reached high proportions (maximum 60%) only in Africa. BA.5* is currently, by Mid-August 2022, the dominant strain, reaching almost 100% across Europe, which is the first continent aside from Africa to show increasing proportions, and Asia, the Americas, and Oceania are following. The emergence of new variants depends mostly on their selective advantage, translated as enhanced transmissibility and ability to invade people with existing immunity. Describing these patterns is useful for a better understanding of the epidemiology of the VOCs’ transmission and for generating hypotheses about the future of emerging variants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant: Current Perspectives and New Developments)
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