In France, the first coronavirus infection may have occurred in December. How long has the virus been around?
- The first coronavirus infection in France could have occurred a few weeks earlier than previously thought.
- Subsequent laboratory tests have now shown that a 43-year-old man was probably already infected at the end of December .
- How he could have been infected is still unclear. He had no direct links to China.
- Here you will find the basic facts about the corona virus * and the corona news from Germany. You can also find current case numbers in Germany here as a map *. The following recommendations for corona protective measures * are currently available.
Update of May 7, 2020: The coronavirus continues to spread, but who exactly is patient zero? And since when has the virus been able to spread freely? While China previously said it had registered the virus for the first time at the end of December , there is growing evidence that an earlier outbreak could be much more likely.
As NTV reports, citing scientists from the University of London , a study now shows that the virus has apparently been able to spread freely for much longer. Accordingly, it can be assumed that the pandemic originated between October 6 and December 11.
In the study, the experts clarify that an analysis of gene samples from more than 7,500 people suffering from coronavirus also revealed mutations in the virus. However, the study could not yet say whether the virus had become more harmless or even fatal.
Coronavirus: samples from the previous year subsequently examined - first case in France in December
May 5, 2020: Paris - Almost 170,000 people infected , more than 25,000 deaths and dramatic economic consequences - the Coronavirus * hit France with full force. On Monday it was announced that the first corona infection in the country appeared to have occurred at the end of December - almost four weeks earlier than previously thought.
Coronavirus: First Covid 19 case in France occurred earlier than previously thought
According to a report by n-tv , Professor Yves Cohen , head of the intensive care unit of the French clinic group Avicenne-Jean Verdier , said that old samples from former patients with breathing difficulties had been re-evaluated in an interview with the broadcaster BFM TV . A rehearsal from December 27th struck . The eye-catching sample belonged to a 43-year-old man who comes from near Paris. The latter informed BFMTV on Tuesday that it had found a dry cough, fever, severe difficulty breathing * and fatigue.
He was then diagnosed with a severe lung infection in a clinic in Bobigny . At that time, the doctors could not have told him what he had - only that it would be very serious. But he was able to leave the hospital after only a few days.
Coronavirus: French doctors re-tested samples from people with respiratory infections
So far, it has been thought that the first cases of coronavirus in France became known on January 24th - these were people related to China. Now doctors from the Avicenne-Jean Verdier clinic group near Paris have again tested samples of people with severe respiratory infections - this time on Sars-CoV-2 . The samples , which have now been examined again, come from patients for whom no reliable diagnosis could previously be made.
Medical personnel are used in France to treat both Covid-19 patients and to research the virus. (Icon image)
© AFP / FRANCOIS LO PRESTI
One of several samples tested was corona positive . It came from a patient who was admitted to the clinic on December 27. The sick 43-year-old father also infected his children . Only recently did he learn from Professor Cohen that he had contracted Corona *. It is surprising that he had no connections to China and had not traveled abroad before falling ill in December. The cause of his infection is therefore still unclear.
Coronavirus: The French patient may have contracted his wife
A theory about this: The partner of the 43-year-old works in a supermarket near the Paris airport Charles de Gaulle. She may have brought the corona virus home - and may have been an asymptomatic case herself . In the supermarket there were customers who come directly from the airport.
At the end of December , a spokesman for the World Health Information (WHO) described the positive corona test in France as " very interesting, but not surprising " . In the central Chinese city of Wuhan, there were already mysterious lung diseases in December that were initially not recognized as infections with a new virus. WHO’s reasoning: Wuhan people may have unconsciously introduced the virus to France and other countries while traveling in December *. "It is quite possible that other previous cases will be discovered in other countries if tissue samples are subsequently tested for the virus," the WHO spokesman predicted.
How is the coronavirus pandemic evolving? A group of US researchers has been working on this question - and has developed three possible scenarios.
By the way: You can find out what economic effects the corona pandemic could have in France in the video below.
cia with information from dpa and Johns Hopkins University
* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.
List of rubric lists: © AFP / THOMAS COEX
