StemCell Therapy

As the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak continues to spreadin China, researchers have found that people carrying the virus but not showingsymptoms may be able to infect others.

If infected people can spread 2019-nCoV while asymptomatic,it could be harder to trace contacts and contain the epidemic, which is alreadya globalhealth emergency (SN: 1/30/20).

An unnamed Shanghai woman passed the virus to businesscolleagues in Germanybefore she showed signs of the illness, doctors report January 30 in the New England Journal of Medicine. Thewoman had attended a business meeting at the headquarters of the auto supplierWebasto in Stockdorf on January 20 and flew back to China on January 22. Shebecame ill with mild symptoms on the flight back to China and tested positivefor the virus.

Meanwhile, one of her German colleagues fell ill on January24 with a fever, sore throat, chills and muscle aches. His illness was brief,and he returned to work on January 27, the same day that the woman informed thecompany she carried the virus. Nasal swabs and sputum, or phlegm, samples fromthe man contained high levels of the novel coronavirus even though his symptomshad passed.

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Three other employees of the company also tested positivefor the virus. Tracing their contacts, doctors conclude that the first man andanother person caught the virus from their Chinese colleague.

Whats also concerning is that the first man apparently passedthe virus to the other two coworkers, who both had contact with him before hedeveloped symptoms. All cases of the illness have been mild.

These cases suggest that people shed the virus before theyshow symptoms and after recovery from the illness, say Camilla Rothe, atropical medicine and infectious disease specialist at the University Hospital ofLudwig-Maximilians-Universitt in Munich, and her colleagues.

Asymptomatic spread, though common for influenza viruses forexample, would be a new trick for coronaviruses. The coronaviruses that causesevere acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and Middle East respiratorysyndrome, or MERS, are notcontagious before people show symptoms (SN:1/28/20).

Another coworker of the firm was confirmed to have the viruson January 30, and a child of one of the infected workers has also contractedthe virus, bringing the case count to six, health officials in the German stateof Bavaria said January 31. The company has closed its headquarters near Munichuntil February 2 and began testing contacts of the ill employees on January 29.

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This entry was posted on February 2, 2020 at 2:46 pm and is filed under Genetic medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |