The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus settled in Europe for good at the end of February 2020, and the first major focus of the disease was Italy. New reports suggest that the virus was already in Italy in December 2019. Why such assumptions?
- Studies of sewage samples in Milan and Turin indicate that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus may have been present in Italy as early as December 2019
- More and more studies suggest that SARS-CoV-2 reached Europe much earlier than official data show. In France, the first cases of infection may have occurred in November
- It is very important to establish the onset of the epidemic
Wastewater studies in Italy
The Italian Institute of Health reported that traces of the SARS-CoV-2019 coronavirus were found in sewage waters in Milan and Turin as early as December 2. In both of these cities, water samples were tested prior to the official outbreak in February.
Previous research has shown that the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in wastewater may be helpful in determining how the infection spreads. See: SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus Detected in Wastewater. Helps to track down asymptomatic vectors
The scientists’ discovery, the Institute of Health explained, will contribute to determining when the coronavirus actually started circulating in Italy.
The basis of the research was 40 samples of wastewater collected from October 2019 to February 2020 and 24 samples from the turn of 2018-2019, when the coronavirus was certainly not present.
The formal beginning of the epidemic in Italy is considered to be the end of February, when the first infection occurred in the territory of this country.
The fact that the virus was spreading earlier is mainly evidenced by reports from nursing homes for the elderly in the north, where an avalanche of deaths from flu-like symptoms had already begun a few weeks earlier. At that time, no tests for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 were carried out yet.
Doctors and scientists in Europe are still determining when the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus really appeared in Europe. All indications are that he was present long before the discovery of the first confirmed case. This is evidenced by, among others research conducted in France. The first, based on samples taken from patients between December 2 and January 16 who showed symptoms similar to those shown by COVID-19 patients.
After testing the samples, one of them tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Read more: Coronavirus was already in Europe in December? The French are looking for the first infected
A second French study, this time based on a comparison of patients’ chest X-rays, showed that the first coronavirus infections in France could have occurred as early as November 2019. See more: The first infections in Europe were already in November? New French findings
Why is it so important to know when the epidemic started?
– We can only manage the future if we understand the past. Today we clearly do not understand the outbreak. This can completely change the government’s management strategy, explained Dr. Vin Gupta, pulmonologist and global health expert at the University of Washington.
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