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DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1781946
From airport to school to hospital – the story of a rare SARS-CoV-2 virus variant import
We investigated a COVID-19 outbreak with the first case of hitherto rare viral variant B.1.640.2 of possible Cameroonian origin in a high school in Germany in December 2021.
The full-length SARS-CoV-2 sequences obtained from the infected individuals were classified as B.1.640.1 and B.1.640.2 pangolin lineage (IHU-variant).
The index case was an adult returned from a three-week development aid residence in the Republic of the Congo. He introduced the atypical variant through his children into the school setting, which was further transmitted to a vulnerable ward in a hospital, and finally infiltrated several other Communities. These data are a further example of the unpredictability of the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants, and of their possible introduction into a given geographical area and several vulnerable institutions from abroad.
However, hygiene management and crisis management strategies based on early research of clinical signs associated with self-quarantine was effective.
Publication History
Article published online:
10 April 2024
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