Spain: SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus found in Barcelona sewage in March 2019

Coronavirus, Europe, Health, Infection, Origins, Science, Spain, Testing, Transmission

“SARS-CoV-2 was detected in Barcelona sewage long before the declaration of the first COVID-19 case, indicating that the infection was present in the population before the first imported case was reported. Sentinel surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater would enable adoption of immediate measures in the event of future COVID-19 waves.

Most COVID-19 cases show mild influenza-like symptoms (14) and it has been suggested that some uncharacterized influenza cases may have masked COVID-19 cases in the 2019-2020 season (11). This possibility prompted us to analyze some archival WWTP samples from January 2018 to December 2019 (Figure 2). All samples came out to be negative for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 genomes with the exception of March 12, 2019, in which both IP2 and IP4 target assays were positive. This striking finding indicates circulation of the virus in Barcelona long before the report of any COVID-19 case worldwide.”

Medrxiv preprint: Sentinel surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater anticipates the occurrence of COVID-19 cases

** This is an important story from June 2020 that we are sure we covered at the time but it seems to have disappeared from our archives, so we are republishing it.

 

Coronavirus was already spreading in France in late December 2019

 

Coronavirus was already spreading in France in late December 2019

 

 

 

Image by Patrice Audet from Pixabay

** This post was originally published on June 2, 2021 **