Oluwapelumi Olufemi Adeyemi,Nnaemeka Darlington Ndodo,Mariam Kehinde Sulaiman,Oyeronke Temidayo Ayansola,Oluwabunmi Idera Nimat Buhari,Olusola Anuoluwapo Akanbi,Oladimeji Akeem Bolarinwa,Chimaobi Chukwu,Ireoluwa Yinka Joel,Adesuyi Ayodeji Omoare,Kolawole Wasiu Wahab,Celestina Obiekea,Mikhail Olayinka Buhari, [ ... ],Abayomi Fadeyi2026-03-062026-03-062023Adeyemi OO, Ndodo ND, Sulaiman MK, Ayansola OT, Buhari OI, Akanbi OA, Bolarinwa OA, Chukwu C, Joel IY, Omoare AA, Wahab KW. SARS-CoV-2 variants-associated outbreaks of COVID-19 in a tertiary institution, North-Central Nigeria: Implications for epidemic control. Plos one. 2023 Jan 25;18(1):e0280756.https://uilspace.unilorin.edu.ng/handle/123456789/17076The COVID-19 global pandemic is being driven by evolving SARS-CoV-2 variants with consequential implications on virus transmissibility, host immunity, and disease severity. Continuous molecular and genomic surveillance of the SARS-CoV-2 variants is therefore necessary for public health interventions toward the management of the pandemic. This study is a retrospective analysis of COVID-19 cases reported in a Nigerian tertiary institution from July to December 2021. In total, 705 suspected COVID-19 cases that comprised 547 students and 158 non-students were investigated by real time PCR (RT-PCR); of which 372 (~52.8%) tested positive for COVID-19. Using a set of selection criteria, 74 (~19.9%) COVID-19 positive samples were selected for next generation sequencing. Data showed that there were two outbreaks of COVID-19 within the university community over the study period, during which more females (56.8%) tested positive than males (47.8%) (p<0.05). Clinical data together with phylogenetic analysis suggested community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through mostly asymptomatic and/or pre-symptomatic individuals. Confirmed COVID-19 cases were mostly mild, however, SARS-CoV-2 delta (77%) and omicron (4.1%) variants were implicated as major drivers of respective waves of infections during the study period. This study highlights the importance of integrated surveillance of communicable disease during outbreaks.enArticle