The latest research from the University of Barcelona claims that the new coronavirus was detected in a waste water sample from Spain last March
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| The latest research from the University of Barcelona |
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June 28, 2020 12:09
Original title: New coronavirus was detected in a waste water sample from Spain last March
The University of Barcelona in Spain issued an announcement on June 26 that a research team led by the school detected new coronavirus in a Barcelona wastewater sample collected in March 2019.
The announcement said that researchers from the University of Barcelona Enterovirus Group tested the local wastewater samples and found that the wastewater samples collected on March 12, 2019 were positive for polymerase chain reaction (PCR), but the virus level was very low. Previously, the team's researchers had detected the presence of new coronavirus in wastewater samples on January 15, 2020. The Spanish mainland did not report the first confirmed case of new coronary pneumonia until February 25, 2020.
The University of Barcelona study reported that although New Coronary Pneumonia is a disease of the respiratory system, it has been proven that New Coronavirus can be isolated from human feces and eventually enters the urban sewage system. Although there is no epidemiological evidence that New Coronary Pneumonia can be transmitted through urban sewage channels, research on urban wastewater can help understand the local transmission status and trends of New Coronavirus.
According to the Spanish national television report, since April 2020, relevant researchers have analyzed samples obtained from two large wastewater treatment plants in Barcelona every week, and also studied wastewater samples in 2018 and 2019, and in March 2019 New coronavirus was detected in the samples. This result is surprising.
Alvet Bosh, the professor of biology who led the research team and chairman of the Spanish Society of Virologists, said in an interview: "We do not yet know whether it is of the same type as the new coronavirus currently circulating because it was found in this sample The level of the virus does not support gene sequencing, which is very common in environmental samples. The virus will also mutate over time. The new coronavirus found in wastewater is produced by human feces, so the virus should be It’s spreading among the crowd.” He believes that Barcelona’s tourism industry is developed and there are many tourists. The results of this study show that similar situations are likely to occur in other parts of the world, but many cases may be masked because they are misdiagnosed as influenza cases.
The Spanish newspaper Le Monde reported that "if the relevant results are confirmed, it may become the earliest evidence of the existence of new coronaviruses in the world." The report also pointed out that with the progress of the research on the new coronary pneumonia epidemic, scientists found that the new coronaviruses in Europe It appears earlier and earlier. Analysis of the wastewater generated by the city has become one of the main clues to track its progress.
Recent research in Europe has reached similar conclusions. The Italian Higher Institute of Health issued a statement on June 18 stating that experts from the institute’s environmental and water quality monitoring department analyzed 40 urban wastewater samples collected between October last year and February this year, and the results were sampled on December 18 last year. New coronavirus nucleic acids were detected in the wastewater of Milan and Turin, as well as in the wastewater of Bologna sampled on January 29 this year. Researchers believe that the new coronavirus may have appeared in northern Italy in December last year. Some hospitals in France recently found that a suspected case of new coronavirus infection occurred in France in November after a retrospective analysis of inpatient samples.