Emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern Omicron (B.1.1.529) - highlights Africa's research capabilities, but exposes major knowledge gaps, inequities of vaccine distribution, inadequacies in global COVID-19 response and control efforts

Eskild Petersen¹, Francine Ntoumi², David S Hui³, Aisha Abubakar⁴, Laura D Kramer⁵, Christina Obiero⁶, Paul Anantharajah Tambyah⁷, Lucille Blumberg⁸, Richard Yapi⁹, Seif Al-Abri¹⁰, Tatiana de Castro Abreu Pinto¹¹, Dorothy Yeboah-Manu¹², Najmul Haider¹³, Danny Asogun¹⁴, Thirumalaisamy P Velavan¹⁵, Nathan Kapata¹⁶, Matthew Bates¹⁷, Rashid Ansumana¹⁸, Chiara Montaldo¹⁹, Luchenga Mucheleng'anga²⁰, John Tembo²¹, Peter Mwaba²², Cordelia M Himwaze²³, Muzamil Mahdi Abdel Hamid²⁴, Sayoki Mfinanga²⁵, Leonard Mboera²⁶, Tajudeen Raj²⁷, Eleni Aklillu²⁸, Francisco Veas²⁹, Sarah Edwards³⁰, Pontiano Kaleebu³¹, Timothy D McHugh³², Jeremiah Chakaya³³, Thomas Nyirenda³⁴, Moses Bockarie³⁵, Peter S Nyasulu³⁶, Christian Wejse³⁷, Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum³⁸, Esam I Azhar³⁹, Markus Maeurer⁴⁰, Jean B Nachega⁴¹, Richard Kock⁴², Giuseppe Ippolito⁴³, Alimuddin Zumla⁴⁴

Affiliations

¹ European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Emerging Infections Task Force, ESCMID, Basel, Switzerland; Institute for Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Denmark; European Travel Medicine Network, Méditerranée Infection Foundation, Marseille, France. Electronic address: eskild.petersen@gmail.com.
² Fondation Congolaise pour la Recherche Médicale (FCRM), Brazzaville, Republic of Congo; Institute for Tropical Medicine, University of Tübingen, Germany. Electronic address: fntoumi@fcrm-congo.com.
³ Department of Medicine & Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong. Electronic address: dschui@cuhk.edu.hk.
⁴ Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. Electronic address: draishau@yahoo.com.
⁵ School of Public Health, State University at Albany, Albany, New York, USA. Electronic address: laura.kramer@health.ny.gov.
⁶ International Society for Infectious Diseases, Boston, United States; Clinical Research Department, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya; Depart of Global Health, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands. Electronic address: christinaobiero@gmail.com.
⁷ International Society for Infectious Diseases, Boston, United States; Infectious Diseases Translational Research Program, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore. Electronic address: mdcpat@nus.edu.sg.
⁸ Division of Public Health Surveillance and Response, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg South Africa. Electronic address: lucilleb@nicd.ac.za.
⁹ International Society for Infectious Diseases, Boston, United States; Centre d'Entomologie Médicale et Vétérinaire, CEMV - Université Alassane Ouattara, Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire. Electronic address: richard.yapi@csrs.ci.
¹⁰ International Society for Infectious Diseases, Boston, United States; Directorate General for Disease Surveillance and Control, Ministry of Health, Muscat, Oman. Electronic address: salabri@gmail.com.
¹¹ International Society for Infectious Diseases, Boston, United States; Instituto de Microbiologia Paulo de Goes, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Electronic address: tcap@micro.ufrj.br.
¹² Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana. Electronic address: Dyeboah-Manu@noguchi.ug.edu.gh.
¹³ Pathobiology and Population Science, The Royal Veterinary College, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: nhaider@rvc.ac.uk.
¹⁴ Community Medicine, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Edo, Nigeria. Electronic address: dannyasogun38@gmail.com.
¹⁵ Institute of Tropical Medicine, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; and Vietnamese-German Center of Medical Research, Hanoi, Vietnam. Electronic address: velavan@medizin.uni-tuebingen.de.
¹⁶ National Public Health Institute, Ministry of Health, and UNZA-UCLMS Research and Training Program, Lusaka, Zambia. Electronic address: nkapata@gmail.com.
¹⁷ HerpeZ and UNZA-UCLMS Project, University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia; and School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK. Electronic address: MBates@lincoln.ac.uk.
¹⁸ Mercy Hospital Research Laboratory, Bo, Freetown, Sierra Leone. Electronic address: rashidansumana@gmail.com.
¹⁹ National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute for Hospitalization and Care Scientific, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: chiara.montaldo@inmi.it.
²⁰ Ministry of Home Affairs, Office of the State Forensic Pathologist, and UNZA-UCLMS Research and Training Program, University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia. Electronic address: luchengam@gmail.com.
²¹ HERPEZ and UNZA-UCLMS Research and Training Program, University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia. Electronic address: john.tembo@gmail.com.
²² Lusaka Apex Medical University, Faculty of Medicine, and UNZA-UCLMS Research and Training Project, Lusaka, Zambia. Electronic address: pbmwaba2000@gmail.com.
²³ University Teaching Hospital, Department of Pathology and Microbiology; and UNZA-UCLMS Research and Training Program, University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia. Electronic address: cordeliahimwaze@gmail.com.
²⁴ Department of Parasitology and Medical Entomology, Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan. Electronic address: mahdi@iend.org.
²⁵ Muhimbili Medical Research Centre National Institute for Medical Research, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Electronic address: gsmfinanga@yahoo.com.
²⁶ SACIDS Foundation for One Health, Sokoine, University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania. Electronic address: lmboera@nimr.or.tz.
²⁷ Division of Public Health Institutes and Research, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Electronic address: TajudeenR@africa-union.org.
²⁸ Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Karolinska University Hospital-Huddinge, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: Eleni.Aklillu@ki.se.
²⁹ Molecular Comparative Immuno-Physiopathology Lab), Joint Research Unit-Ministry of Defense, Faculty of Pharmacy, French Research Institute for Development (IRD), Montpellier University, Montpellier, France. Electronic address: francisco.veas@ird.fr.
³⁰ Ethics and Governance, University College London, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: sarah.edwards@ucl.ac.uk.
³¹ Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute, Entebbe, Uganda. Electronic address: pontiano.kaleebu@mrcuganda.org.
³² Center for Clinical Microbiology, Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: t.mchugh@ucl.ac.uk.
³³ Department of Medicine, Therapeutics, Dermatology and Psychiatry, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya. Electronic address: chakaya.jm@gmail.com.
³⁴ European and Developing Countries clinical trials Partnership, EDCTP Africa Office, Cape Town, South Africa. Electronic address: nyirenda@edctp.org.
³⁵ European and Developing Countries clinical trials Partnership, EDCTP Africa Office, Cape Town, South Africa. Electronic address: bockarie@edctp.org.
³⁶ Division of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine; Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa. Electronic address: pnyasulu@sun.ac.za.
³⁷ Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute of Publich Health, Aarhus University Hospital, Skejby, Denmark. Electronic address: wejse@ph.au.dk.
³⁸ National Institute of Biomedical Research and Department of Medical Microbiology and Virology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Electronic address: jjmuyembet@gmail.com.
³⁹ Special Infectious Agents Unit-BSL3, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University; Dept. of Medical Laboratory Technology, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: eazhar@kau.edu.sa.
⁴⁰ ImmunoSurgery Unit, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal; Medizinische Klinik, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany. Electronic address: markus.maeurer@fundacaochampalimaud.pt.
⁴¹ Department of Medicine and Division of Infectious Diseases, Stellenbosch University Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Cape Town, South Africa, and Depts of Epidemiology, Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Electronic address: jbn16@pitt.edu.
⁴² The Royal Veterinary College, University of London, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hatfield, UK. Electronic address: rkock@rvc.ac.uk.
⁴³ General Directorate for Research and Innovation in Health, Ministry of Health, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: g.ippolito@sanita.it.
⁴⁴ Center for Clinical Microbiology, Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, and NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, UCL Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: a.zumla@ucl.ac.uk.

PMID: 34863925
PMCID: PMC8634699
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.11.040

Editorial

Emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern Omicron (B.1.1.529) - highlights Africa's research capabilities, but exposes major knowledge gaps, inequities of vaccine distribution, inadequacies in global COVID-19 response and control efforts

Eskild Petersen et al. Int J Infect Dis. 2022 Jan.

. 2022 Jan:114:268-272.

doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.11.040. Epub 2021 Dec 1.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Emerging Infections Task Force, ESCMID, Basel, Switzerland; Institute for Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Denmark; European Travel Medicine Network, Méditerranée Infection Foundation, Marseille, France. Electronic address: eskild.petersen@gmail.com.
² Fondation Congolaise pour la Recherche Médicale (FCRM), Brazzaville, Republic of Congo; Institute for Tropical Medicine, University of Tübingen, Germany. Electronic address: fntoumi@fcrm-congo.com.
³ Department of Medicine & Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong. Electronic address: dschui@cuhk.edu.hk.
⁴ Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. Electronic address: draishau@yahoo.com.
⁵ School of Public Health, State University at Albany, Albany, New York, USA. Electronic address: laura.kramer@health.ny.gov.
⁶ International Society for Infectious Diseases, Boston, United States; Clinical Research Department, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya; Depart of Global Health, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands. Electronic address: christinaobiero@gmail.com.
⁷ International Society for Infectious Diseases, Boston, United States; Infectious Diseases Translational Research Program, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore. Electronic address: mdcpat@nus.edu.sg.
⁸ Division of Public Health Surveillance and Response, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Division of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg South Africa. Electronic address: lucilleb@nicd.ac.za.
⁹ International Society for Infectious Diseases, Boston, United States; Centre d'Entomologie Médicale et Vétérinaire, CEMV - Université Alassane Ouattara, Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire. Electronic address: richard.yapi@csrs.ci.
¹⁰ International Society for Infectious Diseases, Boston, United States; Directorate General for Disease Surveillance and Control, Ministry of Health, Muscat, Oman. Electronic address: salabri@gmail.com.
¹¹ International Society for Infectious Diseases, Boston, United States; Instituto de Microbiologia Paulo de Goes, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Electronic address: tcap@micro.ufrj.br.
¹² Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana. Electronic address: Dyeboah-Manu@noguchi.ug.edu.gh.
¹³ Pathobiology and Population Science, The Royal Veterinary College, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: nhaider@rvc.ac.uk.
¹⁴ Community Medicine, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Edo, Nigeria. Electronic address: dannyasogun38@gmail.com.
¹⁵ Institute of Tropical Medicine, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; and Vietnamese-German Center of Medical Research, Hanoi, Vietnam. Electronic address: velavan@medizin.uni-tuebingen.de.
¹⁶ National Public Health Institute, Ministry of Health, and UNZA-UCLMS Research and Training Program, Lusaka, Zambia. Electronic address: nkapata@gmail.com.
¹⁷ HerpeZ and UNZA-UCLMS Project, University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia; and School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK. Electronic address: MBates@lincoln.ac.uk.
¹⁸ Mercy Hospital Research Laboratory, Bo, Freetown, Sierra Leone. Electronic address: rashidansumana@gmail.com.
¹⁹ National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute for Hospitalization and Care Scientific, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: chiara.montaldo@inmi.it.
²⁰ Ministry of Home Affairs, Office of the State Forensic Pathologist, and UNZA-UCLMS Research and Training Program, University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia. Electronic address: luchengam@gmail.com.
²¹ HERPEZ and UNZA-UCLMS Research and Training Program, University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia. Electronic address: john.tembo@gmail.com.
²² Lusaka Apex Medical University, Faculty of Medicine, and UNZA-UCLMS Research and Training Project, Lusaka, Zambia. Electronic address: pbmwaba2000@gmail.com.
²³ University Teaching Hospital, Department of Pathology and Microbiology; and UNZA-UCLMS Research and Training Program, University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia. Electronic address: cordeliahimwaze@gmail.com.
²⁴ Department of Parasitology and Medical Entomology, Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan. Electronic address: mahdi@iend.org.
²⁵ Muhimbili Medical Research Centre National Institute for Medical Research, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Electronic address: gsmfinanga@yahoo.com.
²⁶ SACIDS Foundation for One Health, Sokoine, University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania. Electronic address: lmboera@nimr.or.tz.
²⁷ Division of Public Health Institutes and Research, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Electronic address: TajudeenR@africa-union.org.
²⁸ Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Karolinska University Hospital-Huddinge, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: Eleni.Aklillu@ki.se.
²⁹ Molecular Comparative Immuno-Physiopathology Lab), Joint Research Unit-Ministry of Defense, Faculty of Pharmacy, French Research Institute for Development (IRD), Montpellier University, Montpellier, France. Electronic address: francisco.veas@ird.fr.
³⁰ Ethics and Governance, University College London, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: sarah.edwards@ucl.ac.uk.
³¹ Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute, Entebbe, Uganda. Electronic address: pontiano.kaleebu@mrcuganda.org.
³² Center for Clinical Microbiology, Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: t.mchugh@ucl.ac.uk.
³³ Department of Medicine, Therapeutics, Dermatology and Psychiatry, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya. Electronic address: chakaya.jm@gmail.com.
³⁴ European and Developing Countries clinical trials Partnership, EDCTP Africa Office, Cape Town, South Africa. Electronic address: nyirenda@edctp.org.
³⁵ European and Developing Countries clinical trials Partnership, EDCTP Africa Office, Cape Town, South Africa. Electronic address: bockarie@edctp.org.
³⁶ Division of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine; Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa. Electronic address: pnyasulu@sun.ac.za.
³⁷ Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute of Publich Health, Aarhus University Hospital, Skejby, Denmark. Electronic address: wejse@ph.au.dk.
³⁸ National Institute of Biomedical Research and Department of Medical Microbiology and Virology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Electronic address: jjmuyembet@gmail.com.
³⁹ Special Infectious Agents Unit-BSL3, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University; Dept. of Medical Laboratory Technology, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: eazhar@kau.edu.sa.
⁴⁰ ImmunoSurgery Unit, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal; Medizinische Klinik, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany. Electronic address: markus.maeurer@fundacaochampalimaud.pt.
⁴¹ Department of Medicine and Division of Infectious Diseases, Stellenbosch University Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Cape Town, South Africa, and Depts of Epidemiology, Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Electronic address: jbn16@pitt.edu.
⁴² The Royal Veterinary College, University of London, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hatfield, UK. Electronic address: rkock@rvc.ac.uk.
⁴³ General Directorate for Research and Innovation in Health, Ministry of Health, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: g.ippolito@sanita.it.
⁴⁴ Center for Clinical Microbiology, Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, and NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, UCL Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: a.zumla@ucl.ac.uk.

PMID: 34863925
PMCID: PMC8634699
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.11.040

No abstract available

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References

1. Ansumana R, Sankoh O, Zumla A. Effects of disruption from COVID-19 on antimalarial strategies. Nat Med. 2020;26:1334–1336. doi: 10.1038/s41591-020-1047-5. - DOI - PubMed
1. GISAID. 2021. https://www.gisaid.org/ accessed 28.11.2021
1. Inzaule SC, Tessema SK, Kebede Y, Ogwell Ouma AE, Nkengasong JN. Genomic-informed pathogen surveillance in Africa: opportunities and challenges. Lancet Infect Dis. 2021;21:e281–e289. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30939-7. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Karim F, Gazy I, Cele S, Zungu Y, Krause R, Bernstein M, Khan K, et al. HIV status alters disease severity and immune cell responses in beta variant SARS-CoV-2 infection wave. Elife. 2021;10:e67397. doi: 10.7554/eLife.67397. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Lapidus S, Liu F, Casanovas-Massana A, Dai Y, Huck JD, Lucas C, Klein J, et al. Plasmodium infection induces cross-reactive antibodies to carbohydrate epitopes on the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein. medRxiv [Preprint] 2021 doi: 10.1101/2021.05.10.21256855. May 12:2021.05.10.21256855. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

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Emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern Omicron (B.1.1.529) - highlights Africa's research capabilities, but exposes major knowledge gaps, inequities of vaccine distribution, inadequacies in global COVID-19 response and control efforts

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Emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern Omicron (B.1.1.529) - highlights Africa's research capabilities, but exposes major knowledge gaps, inequities of vaccine distribution, inadequacies in global COVID-19 response and control efforts

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