Epidemiology and Genetics of Susceptibility to COVID-19 Infection

急性呼吸道综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）感染导致被称为2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）的传染病综合征。SARS-CoV-2最初于2019年底在中国武汉被描述，此后在世界各地传播，导致2019-2020年COVID-19大流行。虽然许多SARS-CoV-2感染者可能有轻微或很少的症状，但其他人有危及生命的疾病，包括严重的肺炎和多器官衰竭。截至2020年5月12日，美国已有1，342，594例COVID-19病例和80，820例死亡（https：cdc.gov）。这一约6%的死亡率以及缺乏有效的治疗或预防措施表明，迫切需要了解与严重COVID-19疾病风险相关的因素。无论重症和死亡的实际发生率如何，很明显，全球将出现大量的重症病例，迫切需要管理策略。这是一个多学科合作的项目，主要目的是了解为什么有些COVID-19感染者的临床症状较轻，而另一些人的病情非常严重，导致呼吸衰竭、多器官衰竭和死亡。该项目的多个目标利用了NCI 1癌症流行病学和遗传学部门科学家的广泛专业知识1）识别与COVID-19感染风险和结果相关的常见和罕见生殖系遗传变异; 2）识别与COVID-19感染风险和结果相关的其他生物标志物; 3）描述共病状况的贡献，包括当前或既往癌症对COVID-19感染和结果的影响; 4）进行描述性流行病学研究，旨在了解COVID-19对公共卫生和疾病的人口水平后果; 5）确定最佳检测策略，以检测和监测人群中的COVID-19;以及6）尽快存款和共享数据

Infection by the acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) results in the infectious disease syndrome known as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). SARS-CoV-2 was originally described in late 2019 in Wuhan, China and has since spread throughout the world causing the 2019-2020 COVID-19 pandemic. While many individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection may have mild or few symptoms, others have life threatening illness including severe pneumonia and multi-organ failure. As of May 12, 2020, there have been 1,342,594 cases and 80,820 deaths in the United States due to COVID-19 (https://cdc.gov). This approximately 6% death rate and lack of effective treatment or prevention measures illustrates the urgent need to understand factors associated with risk of severe COVID-19 disease. Irrespective of the actual rate of severe disease and death, it is clear that there will be enormous numbers of severe cases worldwide and management strategies are desperately needed.This is a multi-disciplinary collaborative project with the primary aim of understanding why some individuals with COVID-19 infection have mild clinical symptoms, while others have very severe disease resulting in respiratory failure, multi-organ failure, and death. The multiple aims of this project utilize the wide-ranging expertise of scientists in the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, NCI1) Identify common and rare germline genetic variants associated with risk of COVID-19 infection and outcomes; 2) Identify other biomarkers associated with risk of COVID-19 infection and outcomes; 3) Characterize the contribution of co-morbid conditions, including current or prior cancer to COVID-19 infection and outcomes; 4) Conduct descriptive epidemiology studies aimed at understanding the population-level consequences of COVID-19 on public health and disease; 5) Identify optimal testing strategies to detect and monitor COVID-19 in populations; and 6) Deposit and share data as fast as possible