Researchers at Ahus have found antibodies against covid-19 all the way back to December 2019, a month before the first case was detected in Europe.
– This was very surprising. We examined blood samples back to December to be absolutely sure of going far enough back in time, so we did not expect to find a positive result so early, says project manager for the study, Anne Eskild.
The first case in Europe was detected on 27 January 2020, while in Norway it was not detected until 24 February the same year.
The discovery Ahus has made is from the same period as the first proven case was found in China.
Eskild believes that their findings change the history of the panemic.
Has analyzed samples from pregnant women
The researchers have examined blood samples from pregnant women throughout Ahus’ area. Blood samples are taken from all pregnant women in the first trimester to check for infectious diseases, writes Ahus.
– There are probably few other countries that have access to stored blood samples at population level, and therefore there are few or no other retrospective studies, Eskild says.
Of a total of 6,520 women who were examined throughout the period, antibodies were detected in 98. One positive result was found in December 2019, two in January 2020 and one in both February and March.
– It must be taken into account that a certain proportion of false positive results may occur, the press release states.
Nevertheless, the researchers conclude that the findings indicate that the virus circulated in Norway already in 2019.
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– Can obviously spread hidden for a long time
To my knowledge, antibodies have been detected in blood samples in several countries since December 2019. There are therefore many indications that corona infection has spread internationally in December 2019, not just internally in Wuhan, China.
It writes assistant health director Espen Rostrup Nakstad in a text message to Dagbladet.
He emphasizes that the WHO has not yet been able to map out when the outbreak actually started.
– After the Ebola outbreak in 2014, it turned out that the first index patient was probably infected half a year earlier than had been assumed. Infection can obviously spread for a long time in secret before it leads to hospitalizations and is captured in the statistics, says Nakstad.
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