Molecular epidemiology of SARS CoV-2: a review of current data on genetic variability of the virus.

Parczewski, Miłosz; Ciechanowicz, Andrzej

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2), associated with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a novel pathogen recently introduced to the human population. It may be characterised by the rapid epidemic transmissions due to lack of the herd immunity and notable mortality, increasing with age and among patients with comorbidities. Outbreak forecasting and modelling suggest that infection numbers will continue to rise globally in the forthcoming months. Upon investigation of the disease patterns differences in mortality between south-European and north-European countries became striking with mortality in Italy and Spain exceeding 10% and <5% in Germany and Poland so far. It is unknown if this difference is associated with the higher virulence of the viral strains, differences in host genomics, access to medical resources or other unknown variables. Little is also known about SARS CoV-2 evolutionary and transmission patterns as limited number of the large-scale sequence and phylogenetic analyses have been performed so far. In this review, we aim to provide concise data on the SARS CoV-2 genomics, molecular evolution and variability with special consideration of the disease course.