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The Alpha Variant (B.1.1.7) of SARS-CoV-2 Failed to Become Dominant in Mexico

2022; American Society for Microbiology; Volume: 10; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1128/spectrum.02240-21

2165-0497

Selene Zárate, Blanca Taboada, José Esteban Muñoz‐Medina, Pavel Iša, Alejandro Sánchez‐Flores, Célia Boukadida, Alfredo Herrera‐Estrella, Nelly Sélem‐Mójica, Mauricio Rosales-Rivera, Bruno Gómez‐Gil, Ángel Gustavo Salas-Lais, Clara Esperanza Santacruz-Tinoco, Héctor Montoya-Fuentes, Julio Elías Alvarado-Yaah, Gloria María Molina-Salinas, Gloria Elena Espinoza-Ayala, José Antonio Enciso‐Moreno, Rosa-María Gutiérrez-Rios, Antonio Loza, Joaquín Moreno-Contreras, Rodrigo García-López, Xaira Rivera-Gutiérrez, Andreu Comas‐García, Rosa María Wong‐Chew, María Eugenia Jiménez-Corona, Rosa M. del Ángel, Joel Armando Vázquez-Pérez, Margarita Matías‐Florentino, Marissa Pérez‐García, Santiago Ávila‐Ríos, Hugo G. Castelán‐Sánchez, Luis Delaye, León P. Martínez‐Castilla, Marina Escalera‐Zamudio, Susana López, Carlos F. Arias,

Plant Virus Research Studies

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the emergence and rapid increase of the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) lineage of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), first identified in the United Kingdom in September 2020, was well documented in different areas of the world and became a global public health concern because of its increased transmissibility. The B.1.1.7 lineage was first detected in Mexico during December 2020, showing a slow progressive increase in its circulation frequency, which reached its maximum in May 2021 but never became predominant. In this work, we analyzed the patterns of diversity and distribution of this lineage in Mexico using phylogenetic and haplotype network analyses. Despite the reported increase in transmissibility of the B.1.1.7 lineage, in most Mexican states, it did not displace cocirculating lineages, such as B.1.1.519, which dominated the country from February to May 2021. Our results show that the states with the highest prevalence of B.1.1.7 were those at the Mexico-U.S. border. An apparent pattern of dispersion of this lineage from the northern states of Mexico toward the center or the southeast was observed in the largest transmission chains, indicating possible independent introduction events from the United States. However, other entry points cannot be excluded, as shown by multiple introduction events. Local transmission led to a few successful haplotypes with a localized distribution and specific mutations indicating sustained community transmission.