{"id":115588,"date":"2021-06-01T16:13:52","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T16:13:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=115588"},"modified":"2021-06-01T16:13:52","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T16:13:52","slug":"who-asks-for-re-checks-of-research-on-when-coronavirus-first-surfaced-in-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/who-asks-for-re-checks-of-research-on-when-coronavirus-first-surfaced-in-italy\/","title":{"rendered":"WHO asks for re-checks of research on when coronavirus first surfaced in Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILAN (Reuters) -Samples from a study suggesting the coronavirus was circulating outside China by October 2019 have been re-tested at the World Health Organization\u2019s (WTO) request, two scientists who led the Italian research said.<\/p>

FILE PHOTO: A man wearing a mask walks in the Duomo square as Lombardy tightens restrictions due to a surge in the number of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections in the region, in Milan, Italy, March 5, 2021. REUTERS\/Flavio Lo Scalzo\/File Photo<\/figcaption>

There is growing international pressure to learn more about the origins of the pandemic that has killed more than 3 million people worldwide and U.S. President Joe Biden last week ordered his aides to find answers.<\/p>\n

The WHO said on Friday experts were preparing a proposal on the next studies to be carried out into the origins of the virus, but that there was no set timeline. [nL2N2ND20N]<\/p>\n

The UN body reacted to Biden\u2019s announcement that intelligence agencies were pursuing rival theories, including the possibility of a laboratory accident in China, by saying the search was being \u201cpoisoned by politics\u201d.<\/p>\n

COVID-19 was first identified in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, while Italy\u2019s first patient was detected on Feb. 21 last year in a small town near Milan.<\/p>\n

However, a study published last year suggested antibodies to either the virus or a variant were detected in Italy in 2019.<\/p>\n

That prompted Chinese state media to suggest the virus might not have originated in China, although the Italian researchers stressed the findings raised questions about when the virus first emerged rather than where.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe WHO asked us if we could share the biological material and if we could re-run the tests in an independent laboratory. We accepted,\u201d Giovanni Apolone, scientific director of one of the lead institutions, the Milan Cancer Institute (INT), said.<\/p>\n

The WHO\u2019s request has not previously been reported.<\/p>

Slideshow ( 2 images )<\/span><\/figcaption>

\u201cWHO is in contact with the researchers that had published the original paper. A collaboration with partner laboratories has been set up for further testing,\u201d a WHO spokesman said.<\/p>\n

The spokesman said the WHO was aware that the researchers are planning to publish a follow-up report \u201cin the near future\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the UN agency has contacted all researchers who have published or provided information on samples collected in 2019 that were reported to have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, but does not yet have the final interpretation of the results.<\/p>\n

The Italian researchers\u2019 findings, published by the INT\u2019s scientific magazine Tumori Journal, showed neutralising antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in blood taken from healthy volunteers in Italy in October 2019 during a lung cancer screening trial.<\/p>\n

Most of the volunteers were from Lombardy, the northern region around Milan, which was the first and hardest hit by the virus in Italy.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of the studies published so far have ever questioned the geographical origin,\u201d Apolone told Reuters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe growing doubt is that the virus, probably less powerful compared to later months, was circulating in China long before the reported cases,\u201d Apolone added.<\/p>\n

DUTCH TEST<\/h2>\n

The WHO chose the laboratory of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam for the re-test, Emanuele Montomoli, co-author of the original study and professor of Public Health at the Molecular Medicine Department in the University of Siena, said.<\/p>\n

The Erasmus University did not reply to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Italian researchers sent the team in Rotterdam 30 biological samples from October-December 2019 that they had found positive, 30 samples from the same period they had tested negative and 30 samples from as far back as 2018, negative.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sent them blind, that means our colleagues did not know which samples were positive and which negative,\u201d Apolone said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey rechecked our samples with commercial tests, which are much less sensitive than the ones we devised and validated,\u201d Montomoli said.<\/p>\n

Despite the differences in the two detection methods, both Italian scientists said they were satisfied with the results, delivered to them in late February, adding that they could not comment further until the team of Italian and Dutch scientists have published their findings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did not say in our study that we could establish without a doubt that the coronavirus, later sequenced in Wuhan, was already circulating in Italy in October,\u201d Montomoli said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe only found the response to the virus, namely the antibodies. So we can say that this coronavirus or a very similar one, perhaps a less transmissible variant, was circulating here in October,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MILAN (Reuters) -Samples from a study suggesting the coronavirus was circulating outside China by October 2019 have been re-tested at the World Health Organization\u2019s (WTO) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":115587,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWHO asks for re-checks of research on when coronavirus first surfaced in Italy - Fin2me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/who-asks-for-re-checks-of-research-on-when-coronavirus-first-surfaced-in-italy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WHO asks for re-checks of research on when coronavirus first surfaced in Italy - Fin2me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MILAN (Reuters) -Samples from a study suggesting the coronavirus was circulating outside China by October 2019 have been re-tested at the World Health Organization\u2019s (WTO) [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/who-asks-for-re-checks-of-research-on-when-coronavirus-first-surfaced-in-italy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fin2me\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-01T16:13:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/WHO-asks-for-re-checks-of-research-on-when-coronavirus-first-surfaced-in-Italy.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/who-asks-for-re-checks-of-research-on-when-coronavirus-first-surfaced-in-italy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/markets\/who-asks-for-re-checks-of-research-on-when-coronavirus-first-surfaced-in-italy\/\",\"name\":\"WHO asks for re-checks of research on when coronavirus first surfaced in Italy - 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