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SUMMARY:Infectious disease susceptibility in the context of African geneti
 c diversity
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20211202T120000Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20211202T123000Z
DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260718T083750Z
UID:indico-contribution-1572@events.chpc.ac.za
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Marlo Möller (Stellenbosch University)\nDuring late
  2019\, the world saw the emergence of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID
 -19) pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 
 2 (SARS-CoV-2). To date\, more than 242 million infections have been obser
 ved in 223 countries/territories across the globe\, with a staggering 4.9 
 million individuals losing their lives to COVID-19. South Africa has not r
 emained unscathed by the pandemic\, having more than 2.9 million COVID-19 
 cases and over 88 000 COVID-19 deaths. Significant inter-individual variab
 ility has been observed in host responses to COVID-19\, with host genetic 
 factors being proposed as a contributor to SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and d
 isease severity. This observation echoes that of the ancient disease of tu
 berculosis (TB)\, still a chief cause of death in many areas\, with Africa
  home to most high burden countries. To find the genetic underpinnings of 
 TB in South Africa\, we have studied the complete susceptibility spectrum\
 , from individuals with rare susceptibility mutations to common genetic va
 riants in the general population. We used association studies\, genome wid
 e linkage studies and genome-wide association studies and incorporated pop
 ulation genetics and computational analyses to identify genes and loci tha
 t inform the variation in disease outcome between individuals. We are esta
 blishing a large COVID-19 cohort representative of South African populatio
 ns\, including individuals that have tested both positive and negative for
  SARS-CoV-2 to elucidate the underlying genetic markers that are associate
 d with both infection and severe/critical COVID-19. This includes whole ge
 nome sequencing of younger individuals diagnosed with a rare Multisystem I
 nflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) that is directly related to a pre
 vious SARS-CoV-2 infection\, which is often very mild or asymptomatic in c
 hildren. Our findings could assist with the management of infectious disea
 ses in resource-poor African settings\, where an overburdened healthcare s
 ystem in the past has not been able to accommodate infection surges.\n\nht
 tps://events.chpc.ac.za/event/98/contributions/1572/
LOCATION:
URL:https://events.chpc.ac.za/event/98/contributions/1572/
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