
Cryptic transmission of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 revealed by genomic epidemiology - troydavis
https://bedford.io/blog/ncov-cryptic-transmission/
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troydavis
This blog post was written by the scientist who discovered the first suspected
community-transmitted case in Washington last week:

> Last week the Seattle Flu Study started screening samples for COVID-19 as
> described here. Soon after starting screening we found a first positive in a
> sample from Snohomish County. The case was remarkable in that it was a
> "community case", only the second recognized in the US, someone who had
> sought treatment for flu-like symptoms, been tested for flu and then sent
> home owing to mild disease. After this was diagnostically confirmed by
> Shoreline Public Health labs on Fri Feb 28 we were able to immediately get
> the sample USA/WA2/2020 on a sequencer and have a genome available on Sat
> Feb 29. The results were remarkable. The WA2 case was identical to WA1
> except that it had three additional mutations.

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rolph
this is an explanation of how a viral lineage is traced by genetic means.

this also explains how error prone mechanisms can lead to genetic changes that
culminate over time into a new viral character.

