SARS‐CoV‐2 Omicron emergence urges for reinforced One‐Health surveillance

Xavier Montagutelli (1) , Sylvie van der Werf (2, 3) , Felix A Rey (4) , Etienne Simon‐loriere (5)

1 Génétique de la souris - Mouse Genetics
2 GMV-ARN (UMR_3569 / U-Pasteur_2) - Génétique Moléculaire des Virus à ARN - Molecular Genetics of RNA Viruses
3 CNR - laboratoire coordonnateur - Centre National de Référence des virus des infections respiratoires (dont la grippe) - National Reference Center Virus Influenzae [Paris]
4 Virologie Structurale - Structural Virology
5 Génomique évolutive des virus à ARN - Evolutionary genomics of RNA viruses

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron harbors substitutions in the receptor binding domain of the spike which strongly suggest its capacity to infect rodents. Wild animal reservoirs could favor the emergence of new variants with risks of spillback to humans and should be closely monitored

Domaines: Santé publique et épidémiologie; Virologie

Xavier Montagutelli, Sylvie van der Werf, Felix A Rey, Etienne Simon‐loriere. SARS‐CoV‐2 Omicron emergence urges for reinforced One‐Health surveillance. EMBO Molecular Medicine, 2022, 14 (3), pp.e15558. ⟨10.15252/emmm.202115558⟩. ⟨pasteur-03695443⟩