[ad_1]
According to a recent government study, the novel coronavirus infected people in the United States as early as mid-December 2019, adding to a growing body of evidence showing that COVID-19 was likely present in countries like the United States, Italy and France before. than previously thought.
Scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found evidence of infection in 106 of the 7,389 blood donations collected from residents of nine U.S. states as early as mid-December, their study showed online. November 30 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
People line up to get tested for COVID-19 at a test site in Washington, DC, United States, Nov 23, 2020 (Photo / Xinhua)
The new study provides a perspective to unravel the mysterious origin of COVID-19, while other scientific articles have also suggested that the novel coronavirus emerged in France in late December and in Italy even earlier – around that time or even before it was officially. identified in China.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, as of December 1, there were at least 63.6 million confirmed cases of the virus, which claimed the lives of over 1.47 million people worldwide. , including nearly 270,000 in the United States.
China reported cases of what people then called “pneumonia of unknown cause” on December 27, according to a white paper titled “Fighting COVID-19: China in Action” released in June. For its part, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it received China’s official report on the case cluster on January 3.
Samples for the US study, collected by the American Red Cross between December 13 and January 17, were sent to the CDC for retrospective testing to determine if there were anti-SARS-CoV antibodies there. 2, the respiratory virus responsible for COVID-19. As a result, the scientists found anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in 39 samples from California, Oregon and Washington State, collected as early as December 13-16. According to CDC scientists, their presence indicates that isolated infections may have occurred in the western United States in mid-December.
Washington state is where the first patient in the United States was diagnosed with CDC virus infection on January 20. As of December 1, it had reported at least 165,000 confirmed cases, with over 2,770 deaths. Antibodies were also found in 67 samples from the states of Massachusetts, Michigan, Wisconsin or Iowa and Connecticut or Rhode Island, collected between December 30 and January 17.
“These results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 may have been introduced in the United States before January 19, 2020,” the authors noted.
Reporting the research on December 1, the Wall Street Journal said the findings added “mounting evidence” to suggest that COVID-19 was present outside of China earlier than previously believed. “The findings significantly reinforce the evidence suggesting that the virus spread around the world long before public health authorities and researchers realized it, disrupting initial thinking about how quickly and quickly it emerged.” , He said.
Separately, the Journal reported, researchers discovered the virus, for example, in a retrospective analysis of a sample from a patient admitted to France on December 27, 2019. It was a few weeks before the first cases were confirmed in France. January 24, 2020.
In Italy, where the first patient with COVID-19 was detected on February 20, the researchers provided evidence that the virus could have circulated since September 2019.
The results of the Italian researchers, published in the scientific journal Tumori Journal of the National Cancer Institute on November 11, show that 11.6% of the 959 healthy volunteers who participated in a lung cancer screening study between September 2019 and March 2020 had developed antibodies to the coronavirus.
According to a Reuters report, another specific test for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was carried out by the University of Siena for the same research titled “Unexpected detection of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the pre-pandemic in Italy “.
According to Giovanni Apolone, co-author of the study cited by Reuters, it emerged that four cases dated the first week of October were also positive for antibodies neutralizing the virus, in the sense that they had been infected in September.
For his part, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said his agency is determined to do everything it can to find the origins of the novel coronavirus as it can help the world prevent future epidemics. , while urging countries not to politicize hunting.
“What has been an obstacle and has tried to derail us from what we have done scientifically is the politicization of the study of the origin of the virus by certain circles,” said the director general. by the WHO during a daily press conference on 30 November in Geneva.
.
[ad_2]
Source link
