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As authorities braced for the arrival of the Omicron variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), infrastructure investments and government directives prompted action in central Viet Nam to establish capacity for genomic surveillance sequencing. From 17 November 2021 to 7 January 2022, the Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang sequenced 162 specimens from 98 150 confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases in the region collected from 8 November to 31 December 2021. Of these, all 127 domestic cases were identified as the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant, whereas 92% (32/35) of imported cases were identified as the B.1.1.529 (Omicron) variant, all among international flight passengers. Patients were successfully isolated, enabling health-care workers to prepare for additional cases. Most (78%) of the 32 Omicron cases were fully vaccinated, suggesting continued importance of public health and social measures to control the spread of new variants.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.5365/wpsar.2022.13.4.977 | DOI Listing |
Vaccine
September 2025
Biostatistics Research Branch, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Background: Covid-19 vaccines are updated to match circulating strains based on reasoning that better strain-matched immunogenicity should provide better protection. Randomized evidence with disease endpoints to support strain matching is lacking. We evaluated COVID-19 incidence among adults randomized to a second booster of Prototype or Omicron-based vaccines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
September 2025
Instituto de Ensino e Pesquisa, Hospital Sírio-Libanês, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Background: Reinfections with SARS-CoV-2 have gained increasing relevance in the context of emerging immune-evasive variants and waning population immunity. Understanding their frequency and distribution is essential to guide public health strategies, particularly in middle-income countries. This study investigates the epidemiological patterns of SARS-CoV-2 reinfections in Espírito Santo, Brazil, using integrated notification and vaccination databases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Glob Public Health
September 2025
Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) - Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP), Kilifi, Kenya.
Background: Between November 2023 and March 2024, coastal Kenya experienced another wave of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections detected through our continued genomic surveillance. Herein, we report the clinical and genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 infections from 179 individuals (a total of 185 positive samples) residing in the Kilifi Health and Demographic Surveillance System (KHDSS) area (~ 900 km).
Methods: We analyzed genetic, clinical, and epidemiological data from SARS-CoV-2 positive cases across pediatric inpatient, health facility outpatient, and homestead community surveillance platforms.
EMBO J
September 2025
New York University Grossman School of Medicine, Microbiology Department, New York, NY, USA.
Serine protease inhibitors (SERPINs) are involved in various physiological processes and diseases, such as inflammation, cancer metastasis, and neurodegeneration. Their role in viral infections is poorly understood, as their expression patterns during infection and the range of proteases they target have yet to be fully characterized. Here, we show widespread expression of human SERPINs in response to respiratory virus infections, both in bronchioalveolar lavages from COVID-19 patients and in polarized human airway epithelial cultures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPediatr Infect Dis J
September 2025
From the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Background: Obesity was a risk factor for severe COVID-19 in children during early outbreaks of ancestral SARS-CoV-2 and the Delta variant. However, the relationship between obesity and COVID-19 severity during the Omicron wave remains unclear.
Methods: This multicenter, observational study included polymerase chain r eaction-confirmed SARS-CoV-2-infected children and adolescents from Australia, Brazil, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States hospitalized between January 1, 2020, and March 31, 2022.