In-Flight Transmission of a SARS-CoV-2 Lineage B.1.617.2 Harbouring the Rare S:E484Q Immune Escape Mutation

Abstract

We describe a flight-associated infection scenario of seven individuals with a B.1.617.2 (Delta) lineage, harbouring an S:E484Q point mutation. In Sweden, at least 10% of all positive SARS-CoV-2 samples were sequenced in each county; the B.1.717.2 + S:E484Q combination was not detected in Sweden before and was imported within the scenario described in this report. The high transmission rate of the delta lineage combined with the S:E484Q mutation, associated with immune escape in other lineages, makes this specific genetic combination a possible threat to the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Even within the Omicron wave, the B.1.617.2 + S:E484Q variant appeared in community samples in Sweden, as it seems that this combination has an evolutionary gain compared to other B.1.617.2 lineages. The here described genomic combination was not detectable with the common fasta file-based Pango-lineage analysis, hence increasing the probability of the true global prevalence to be higher.

Keywords

SARS-CoV-2; delta; E484Q

Published in

Viruses
2022, volume: 14, number: 3, article number: 504

SLU Authors

• Bergholm, Julia

  • Uppsala University Hospital

UKÄ Subject classification

Medical Genetics
Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/v14030504

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/127221