Viruses (Nov 2022)
Epidemiological and Clinical Features of SARS-CoV-2 Variants Circulating between April–December 2021 in Italy
- Alessia Lai,
- Annalisa Bergna,
- Carla Della Ventura,
- Stefano Menzo,
- Bianca Bruzzone,
- Fabio Sagradi,
- Francesca Ceccherini-Silberstein,
- Alessandro Weisz,
- Nicola Clementi,
- Gaetano Brindicci,
- Ilaria Vicenti,
- Lolita Sasset,
- Sara Caucci,
- Benedetta Corvaro,
- Silvia Ippoliti,
- Carla Acciarri,
- Vanessa De Pace,
- Leonardo Lanfranchi,
- Maria C. Bellocchi,
- Giorgio Giurato,
- Roberto Ferrarese,
- Antonella Lagioia,
- Daniela Francisci,
- Martina L. Colombo,
- Samuel Lazzarin,
- Matilde Ogliastro,
- Maria R. Cappelletti,
- Marco Iannetta,
- Francesca Rizzo,
- Carlo Torti,
- Maurizio Fumi,
- Morena d’Avenia,
- Stefano Brusa,
- Francesca Greco,
- Angela Menchise,
- Vittoria Letizia,
- Emilia Vaccaro,
- Carmen R. Santoro,
- Chiara Fraccalvieri,
- Sophie Testa,
- Luca Carioti,
- Teresa Rocco,
- Annalisa Saracino,
- Annamaria Cattelan,
- Massimo Clementi,
- Loredana Sarmati,
- Agostino Riva,
- Massimo Galli,
- Spinello Antinori,
- Gianguglielmo Zehender,
- SARS-CoV- ITALIAN RESEARCH ENTERPRISE–(SCIRE) Collaborative Group
Affiliations
- Alessia Lai
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20174 Milan, Italy
- Annalisa Bergna
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20174 Milan, Italy
- Carla Della Ventura
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20174 Milan, Italy
- Stefano Menzo
- Virology Unit, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Polytechnic University of Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
- Bianca Bruzzone
- Hygiene Unit, IRCCS AOU San Martino-IST, 16132 Genoa, Italy
- Fabio Sagradi
- Unit of Infectious Diseases, Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale Cremona, 26100 Cremona, Italy
- Francesca Ceccherini-Silberstein
- Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy
- Alessandro Weisz
- Laboratory of Molecular Medicine and Genomics, Department of Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry ‘Scuola Medica Salernitana’, University of Salerno, 84084 Salerno, Italy
- Nicola Clementi
- Laboratory of Microbiology and Virology, Università “Vita-Salute” San Raffaele, 20158 Milan, Italy
- Gaetano Brindicci
- Infectious Diseases Unit, University of Bari, 70121 Bari, Italy
- Ilaria Vicenti
- Department of Medical Biotechnologies, University of Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy
- Lolita Sasset
- Infectious Diseases Unit, Azienda Ospedale Università di Padova, 35128 Padova, Italy
- Sara Caucci
- Virology Unit, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Polytechnic University of Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
- Benedetta Corvaro
- Virology Unit, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Polytechnic University of Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
- Silvia Ippoliti
- Virology Unit, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Polytechnic University of Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
- Carla Acciarri
- Virology Unit, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Polytechnic University of Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
- Vanessa De Pace
- Hygiene Unit, IRCCS AOU San Martino-IST, 16132 Genoa, Italy
- Leonardo Lanfranchi
- Unit of Infectious Diseases, Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale Cremona, 26100 Cremona, Italy
- Maria C. Bellocchi
- Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy
- Giorgio Giurato
- Laboratory of Molecular Medicine and Genomics, Department of Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry ‘Scuola Medica Salernitana’, University of Salerno, 84084 Salerno, Italy
- Roberto Ferrarese
- Laboratory of Microbiology and Virology, Università “Vita-Salute” San Raffaele, 20158 Milan, Italy
- Antonella Lagioia
- Infectious Diseases Unit, University of Bari, 70121 Bari, Italy
- Daniela Francisci
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, Clinic of Infectious Diseases, Santa Maria della Misericordia Hospital, University of Perugia, 06123 Perugia, Italy
- Martina L. Colombo
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20174 Milan, Italy
- Samuel Lazzarin
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20174 Milan, Italy
- Matilde Ogliastro
- Department of Health Sciences (DISSAL), University of Genoa, 16126 Genoa, Italy
- Maria R. Cappelletti
- Unit of Infectious Diseases, Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale Cremona, 26100 Cremona, Italy
- Marco Iannetta
- Infectious Disease Unit, Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy
- Francesca Rizzo
- Laboratory of Molecular Medicine and Genomics, Department of Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry ‘Scuola Medica Salernitana’, University of Salerno, 84084 Salerno, Italy
- Carlo Torti
- Infectious and Tropical Disease Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy
- Maurizio Fumi
- UOC Patologia Clinica, AO San Pio Benevento, 82100 Benevento, Italy
- Morena d’Avenia
- UOSVD di Citopatologia e Screening, Department of Laboratory Medicines, 70131 Bari, Italy
- Stefano Brusa
- Department of Translational Medical Sciences, Università Federico II, 80138 Naples, Italy
- Francesca Greco
- UOC Microbiologia e Virologia, PO Cosenza, 87100 Cosenza, Italy
- Angela Menchise
- Microbiology and Virology Laboratory, A.O.R. San Carlo Potenza, 85100 Potenza, Italy
- Vittoria Letizia
- UOSD Genetics and Molecular Biology, AORN Sant’Anna e San Sebastiano di Caserta, 81100 Caserta, Italy
- Emilia Vaccaro
- Molecular Biology Units, AOU ‘S. Giovanni di Dio e Ruggi d’Aragona’ Università di Salerno, 84131 Salerno, Italy
- Carmen R. Santoro
- Infectious Diseases Unit, University of Bari, 70121 Bari, Italy
- Chiara Fraccalvieri
- Hygiene Unit, IRCCS AOU San Martino-IST, 16132 Genoa, Italy
- Sophie Testa
- Unit of Infectious Diseases, Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale Cremona, 26100 Cremona, Italy
- Luca Carioti
- Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy
- Teresa Rocco
- Laboratory of Molecular Medicine and Genomics, Department of Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry ‘Scuola Medica Salernitana’, University of Salerno, 84084 Salerno, Italy
- Annalisa Saracino
- Infectious Diseases Unit, University of Bari, 70121 Bari, Italy
- Annamaria Cattelan
- Infectious Diseases Unit, Azienda Ospedale Università di Padova, 35128 Padova, Italy
- Massimo Clementi
- Laboratory of Microbiology and Virology, Università “Vita-Salute” San Raffaele, 20158 Milan, Italy
- Loredana Sarmati
- Infectious Disease Unit, Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy
- Agostino Riva
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20174 Milan, Italy
- Massimo Galli
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20174 Milan, Italy
- Spinello Antinori
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20174 Milan, Italy
- Gianguglielmo Zehender
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20174 Milan, Italy
- SARS-CoV- ITALIAN RESEARCH ENTERPRISE–(SCIRE) Collaborative Group
- Virology Unit, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Polytechnic University of Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/v14112508
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 14,
no. 11
p. 2508
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 is constantly evolving, leading to new variants. We analysed data from 4400 SARS-CoV-2-positive samples in order to pursue epidemiological variant surveillance and to evaluate their impact on public health in Italy in the period of April–December 2021. The main circulating strain (76.2%) was the Delta variant, followed by the Alpha (13.3%), the Omicron (5.3%), and the Gamma variants (2.9%). The B.1.1 lineages, Eta, Beta, Iota, Mu, and Kappa variants, represented around 1% of cases. There were 48.2% of subjects who had not been vaccinated, and they had a lower median age compared to the vaccinated subjects (47 vs. 61 years). An increasing number of infections in the vaccinated subjects were observed over time, with the highest proportion in November (85.2%). The variants correlated with clinical status; the largest proportion of symptomatic patients (59.6%) was observed with the Delta variant, while subjects harbouring the Gamma variant showed the highest proportion of asymptomatic infection (21.6%), albeit also deaths (5.4%). The Omicron variant was only found in the vaccinated subjects, of which 47% had been hospitalised. The diffusivity and pathogenicity associated with the different SARS-CoV-2 variants are likely to have relevant public health implications, both at the national and international levels. Our study provides data on the rapid changes in the epidemiological landscape of the SARS-CoV-2 variants in Italy.
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