The global meningitis genome partnership. Issue 4 (October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rodgers, Elizabeth; Bentley, Stephen D.; Borrow, Ray; Bratcher, Holly B.; Brisse, Sylvain; Brueggemann, Angela B.; Caugant, Dominique A.; Findlow, Jamie; Fox, LeAnne; Glennie, Linda; Harrison, Lee H.; Harrison, Odile B.; Heyderman, Robert S.; van Rensburg, Melissa Jansen; Jolley, Keith A.; Kwambana-Adams, Brenda; Ladhani, Shamez; LaForce, Marc; Levin, Michael; Lucidarme, Jay; MacAlasdair, Neil; Maclennan, Jenny; Maiden, Martin C.J.; Maynard-Smith, Laura; Muzzi, Alessandro; Oster, Philipp; Rodrigues, Charlene M.C.; Ronveaux, Olivier; Serino, Laura; Smith, Vinny; van der Ende, Arie; Vázquez, Julio; Wang, Xin; Yezli, Saber; Stuart, James M.;
• Is Part Of: Journal of infection. Volume 81:Issue 4(2020)
• Page Start: 510
• Page End: 520
• Publication Date: 2020-10
• Subjects: Whole genome sequencing -- Genome partnership -- Neisseria meningitidis -- Streptococcus pneumoniae -- Streptococcus agalactiae -- Haemophilus influenzae -- Bacterial meningitis -- Epidemiology; Infection -- Periodicals; Bacterial Infections -- Periodicals; Communicable Diseases -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 616.905
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinf.2020.06.064
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0163-4453

Abstract

Highlights: Current WGS collections are not representative of the global meningitis picture. A global overview of WGS data is needed for timely public health intervention. WHO roadmap to defeat meningitis is ideal stimulus to improve genomic surveillance. Global Meningitis Genome Partnership will be a major factor in facilitating this. Summary: Genomic surveillance of bacterial meningitis pathogens is essential for effective disease control globally, enabling identification of emerging and expanding strains and consequent public health interventions. While there has been a rise in the use of whole genome sequencing, this has been driven predominately by a subset of countries with adequate capacity and resources. Global capacity to participate in surveillance needs to be expanded, particularly in low and middle-income countries with high disease burdens. In light of this, the WHO-led collaboration, Defeating Meningitis by 2030 Global Roadmap, has called for the establishment of a Global Meningitis Genome Partnership that links resources for: N. meningitidis (Nm), S. pneumoniae (Sp), H. influenzae (Hi) and S. agalactiae (Sa) to improve worldwide co-ordination of strain identification and tracking. Existing platforms containing relevant genomes include: PubMLST: Nm (31, 622), Sp (15, 132), Hi (1935), Sa (9026); The Wellcome Sanger Institute: Nm (13, 711), Sp (> 24, 000), Sa (6200), Hi (1738); and BMGAP: Nm (8785), Hi (2030). A steering group is being established to coordinate the initiative and encourage high-quality data curation. Next steps include: developing guidelines on open-access sharing of genomic data; defining a core set of metadata; and facilitating development of user-friendly interfaces that represent publicly available data.