In fact, while researchers have recorded dozens of cases to date, the first human infection dates back to 2018. Subsequently, the approximately 35 cases detected in two northeastern Chinese provinces – Shandong and Henan – span between April 2018 and August 2021. That is, the virus “does not spread rapidly in humans”, as Professor Francois Balloux, director of the Institute of Genetics at University College London, pointed out on Twitter.
This is explained by the absence of contagion between humans. In their correspondence, the researchers emphasize that the epidemiological investigation carried out among nine infected patients did not show “no close contact or common exposure history”. “Suggesting that infection in the human population may be sporadic.” Understand by this that it is animals that are the source of all human contamination, all of which took place in farmers. Specifically, scientists speculate that the shrew, a small mammal with a pointed snout, could be the source of the transmission.
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