Acute Respiratory Viruses Molecular Epidemiology

Dear Colleagues,

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced the use of the molecular epidemiology of viral pathogens to support public health decision-making on the centre stage. Molecular epidemiology has been already central to influenza surveillance in the last ten years, to derive the influenza vaccine composition and interpret real-world vaccine effectiveness. The molecular epidemiology of other respiratory viruses is emerging as a tool to improve public health, providing insights into virus seasonality, age-related susceptibility, disease severity, viral load and transmission. Virus genome sequencing, combined with metadata, provides evidence not only for outbreak investigations, regional, national and international epidemiological trends, but also for the study of a potential viral escape to natural or vaccine-induced immunity. With the expanding scale of whole-genome pathogen sequencing, new analytical challenges arise regarding how and when to apply these technologies. We are looking for manuscripts on the molecular epidemiology of acute respiratory viruses that report the results of studies conducted prior to and during the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the post-pandemic period. We aim to publish evidence on critical aspects of transmission, geographic dispersion, virulence, immune escape, and the impact on the effectiveness of available vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.

Dr. Joan Puig-Barberà
Dr. María Lourdes Guerrero
Prof. Dr. Anna Sominina
Dr. Svetlana V. Trushakova
Dr. F. Xavier López-Labrador
Topic Editors