
Italy: WHO retests patient samples from September 2019 that tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RBD-specific antibodies
Samples from a study suggesting the coronavirus was circulating outside China by October 2019 have been retested at the World Health Organization’s request, two scientists who led the Italian research said. “The WHO asked us if we could share the biological material and if we could re-run the tests in an independent laboratory. We accepted,” Giovanni Apolone, scientific director of one of the lead institutions, the Milan Cancer Institute (INT), said.
The original Italian study was titled “Unexpected detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the prepandemic period in Italy“
From that study: “SARS-CoV-2 RBD-specific antibodies were detected in 111 of 959 (11.6%) individuals, starting from September 2019 (14%), with a cluster of positive cases (>30%) in the second week of February 2020 and the highest number (53.2%) in Lombardy.”
Coronavirus was already spreading in France in late December 2019
Traces of #coronavirus have been found in samples taken from sewage in Milan and Turin in DECEMBER 2019, according to a study by Italy’s Higher Health Institute (ISS).
The first officially confirmed case of #COVID19 in Italy was on 31 January 2020.https://t.co/fjEBdrTgjF
— Corona Heads Up (@CoronaHeadsUp) June 19, 2020
Unexpected detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in Italy in September 2019
Photo by Matteo Raimondi on Unsplash