Combining genomics and epidemiology to track mumps virus transmission in the United States
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file (1).pdf
Description
Published version
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1.54 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
db513ec7e5f22f575cf742b140ee03b5
Date Issued
February 11, 2020
Journal
PLOS Biology
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Citation
Wohl S, Metsky HC, Schaffner SF, Piantadosi A, Burns M, Lewnard JA, et al. (2020) Combining genomics and epidemiology to track mumps virus transmission in the United States. PLoS Biol 18(2): e3000611.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Unusually large outbreaks of mumps across the United States in 2016 and 2017 raised questions about the extent of mumps circulation and the relationship between these and prior outbreaks. We paired epidemiological data from public health investigations with analysis of mumps virus whole genome sequences from 201 infected individuals, focusing on Massachusetts university communities. Our analysis suggests continuous, undetected circulation of mumps locally and nationally, including multiple independent introductions into Massachusetts and into individual communities. Despite the presence of these multiple mumps virus lineages, the genomic data show that one lineage has dominated in the US since at least 2006. Widespread transmission was surprising given high vaccination rates, but we found no genetic evidence that variants arising during this outbreak contributed to vaccine escape. Viral genomic data allowed us to reconstruct mumps transmission links not evident from epidemiological data or standard single-gene surveillance efforts and also revealed connections between apparently unrelated mumps outbreaks.
MIT Department
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
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Creative Commons CC0
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000611
