6:27 AM 7/23/2020 - Study of Covid-19 in Lombardy, Northern Italy "revealed that a sustained community transmission was ongoing way before the first COVID-19 case found in Lombardy."
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The Hypothesis of the Covid-19 origins as the gradually emerged, within the last 10-15 years, possibly multi-infection condition, and possibly transmitted by vectors related to pigs and rodents.
Study of Covid-19 in Lombardy, Northern Italy "revealed that a sustained community transmission was ongoing way before the first COVID-19 case found in Lombardy."
Michael Novakhov - SharedNewsLinks℠ | InBrief |
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Michael Novakhov - SharedNewsLinks℠ | InBrief |
Study of Covid-19 in Lombardy, Northern Italy "revealed that a sustained community transmission was ongoing way before the first COVID-19 case found in Lombardy."
6:27 AM 7/23/2020
Hypothesis: The pathogens causing the Disease X-19 circulated in the major local epicenters areas for years (10-15) before the first clinical cases were detected and identified.
Besides Sars-Cov-2, they may include, hypothetically, the pathogens of the Hantaviruses Infections, African Swine Fever, and/or other infections, with or without the genomic modifications of these pathogens in a Lab.
The vectors may include pigs, especially industrially produced, as in the Northern areas of Italy and Spain, and various rodents: rats and mice, including the large water or river rats, such as nutrias or coypus. The unusual and very noticeable proliferation of these rodents, especially the large ones, which appear to be sick, infected, and psychotic, was observed in all major cities of the world. Quite often, these infections may occur in humans and animals asymptomatically.
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| Italys earliest coronavirus strains did not arrive from China, study suggests | ||
The earliest coronavirus strains circulating in Italy did not come directly from China, according to a new study.
Researchers in Milan collected more than 300 blood samples of Covid-19 patients from the Lombardy region between February and April and traced the origin of the viral strains by changes in their genes.
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Italy was the first country in the world that put up a travel restriction barring all flights from China, but the genome sequencing suggested a transmission chain not directly involving China, said the researchers led by Professor Carlo Federico Perno of Milan University in a non-peer-reviewed paper posted on <a href="http://medRxiv.org" rel="nofollow">medRxiv.org</a> on Monday.
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Lombardy had the earliest known outbreak in the West and has accounted for more than a third of the coronavirus cases in Italy. It is Italys richest region with thriving businesses, international transport connections and densely populated urban areas.
Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease Covid-19, was isolated and sequenced by Chinese researchers in early January. It was not until February 20 that the first case of local infection was confirmed by Lombardys health authorities, but sustained community transmission was ongoing way before that date, the researchers said.
Pernos team collected blood samples from 371 patients in 12 provinces across the region. They were randomly chosen from people admitted to hospital with mild, moderate or severe symptoms. About 7 per cent of the samples failed to produce high-quality reading of the virus full genome, but the remainder still provided the largest sample base so far from the Lombardy region.
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The strains belonged to two separate lineages, each playing a dominant role in some provinces. But they did not contain viral strains isolated in the first months of the outbreak in China, said the paper.
Italy banned travellers from China on January 31, after a Chinese couple tested positive for Covid-19 in Rome. But according to a study by the Italian National Institute of Health last month, the virus had already appeared in sewage water in Milan and Turin in mid-December.
Pernos new study showed that there could have been multiple introductions of the virus to the Lombardy region. These strains formed relatively isolated clusters in separate areas. One possible direction of the source was Central Europe, where strains with similar mutations had been detected, according to the researchers.
Their calculation suggested that these entries may have happened in the second half of January, based on the assumption that the virus was mutating at a relatively constant speed although that may not have been the case.
The Italian study is one of several around the world to have found strains that were not traced to China.
In New York, the viral strains circulating in March did not come from China, which researchers said was unanticipated because government scientists had gone put extra emphasis on collecting samples in Chinese-speaking neighbourhoods.
Rather, the sequence analysis suggests probable introductions of Sars-CoV-2 from Europe, from other US locations and local introductions from within New York, said the official report of the joint research by the citys Department of Health and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, released last Friday.
A study by the Pasteur Institute in Paris in May confirmed that the outbreak in France had no direct link to China. Another study by Russian government scientists identified 67 introductions into their country and found only one that related to a Chinese source.
Some other studies challenged the belief that the pandemic originated in Wuhan, where the virus was first detected in late December.
A research team led by Spains top biologists identified the virus in a waste water sample in Barcelona dated back to March last year. In the Brazilian beach town Florianopolis, drainage samples collected and stored in government research facilities in November later tested positive for the coronavirus.
Benjamin Neuman, professor and chair of biological sciences with the Texas A&M University Texarkana, said that the recent findings could be potentially a really big story but that the data would require more scrutiny.
For example, the viral strains detected in sewage samples should have their genome sequenced to determine their position in the evolutionary tree, he said.
If the sequences are indeed from that early part of the outbreak, it should resemble the earliest sequences from China, possibly with mutations that have not yet been seen, Professor Neuman said.
They should not have some of the mutations that appeared later in other parts of the world, he added.
A government epidemiologist in Beijing, who asked not to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media, said tracing the origin of the coronavirus by its genes had limitations.
The copies preserved in poor environments such as waste water were probably compromised and unlikely to produce full genome sequences, they said. It would be difficult to estimate a strains age by mutation because a genetic change appearing later in an international database may not mean it was younger than those sequenced earlier.
A mutation could be in circulation for some time in a remote corner of the world, said the researcher. Can we say that it did not exist until sequencing?
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| Genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 reveals multiple lineages and early spread of SARS-CoV-2 infections in Lombardy, Italy | ||
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Michael Novakhov - SharedNewsLinks℠ | InBrief |
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| Michael Novakhov - SharedNewsLinks | |||||||
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| Genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 reveals multiple lineages and early spread of SARS-CoV-2 infections in Lombardy, Italy | |||||||
AbstractFrom February to April, 2020, Lombardy (Italy) was the area who worldwide registered the highest numbers of SARS-CoV-2 infection. By extensively analyzing 346 whole SARS-CoV-2 genomes, we demonstrated the simultaneous circulation in Lombardy of two major viral lineages, likely derived from multiple introductions, occurring since the second half of January. Seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (five of them non-synonymous) characterized the SARS-CoV-2 sequences, none of them affecting N-glycosylation sites. These two lineages, and the presence of two well defined clusters inside Lineage 1, revealed that a sustained community transmission was ongoing way before the first COVID-19 case found in Lombardy.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.Funding StatementThis work was financially supported by an unrestricted grant from Cariplo foundation.Author DeclarationsI confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: The study protocol was approved by local Research Ethics Committee of the two hospitals (prot. 92-15032020 and P_20200029440). This study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki. All necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes Data AvailabilityCorresponding author is Carlo Federico Perno, MD, PhD, University of Milan, email: <a href="mailto:cf.perno@uniroma2.it">cf.perno@uniroma2.it</a>. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. | |||||||
| Italys first coronavirus strains didnt come from China, study suggests | |||||||
A NEW study has suggested that the first Covid-19 variants that spread throughout Italys Lombardy region were not from China.
The non-peer-reviewed paper published on <a href="http://medRxiv.org" rel="nofollow">medRxiv.org</a> took 371 blood samples of coronavirus patients in Lombardy between February and April and concluded that the Covid-19 strains were ones that had rarely been found in China.
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The findings suggest a transmission chain not directly involving China, as researchers from Milan University wrote in the study.Researchers found two different strains in Lombardy, but neither contained viral strains isolated in the first months of the outbreak in China suggesting they may have come from Central Europe instead.  | |||||||
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| Vessel AMERICAN TRIUMPH (Trawler) IMO 7738412, MMSI 366047000 | |||||||
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| 10:51 AM 7/22/2020 - "American Triumph" - A Telling (teasing) Name? I noticed a string of them lately, attached to the clusters of Covid-19. Are these the (Russian Mafia) communications? - M.N. | |||||||
10:51 AM 7/22/2020 - "American Triumph" - A Telling (teasing) Name? I noticed a string of them lately, attached to the clusters of Covid-19. Are these the (Russian Mafia) communications? - M.N. Michael Novakhov - SharedNewsLinks - Latest Post Michael Novakhov - SharedNewsLinks A fishing boat docked in Dutch Harbor with 85 COVID-19 cases. Now it's headed for Seward. - Alaska Public Media | |||||||
| 10:51 AM 7/22/2020 - "American Triumph" - A Telling (teasing) Name? I noticed a string of them lately, attached to the clusters of Covid-19. Are these the (Russian Mafia) communications? - M.N. Covid-19-Review: covid-19-review.blogspot.com/2020/07/1051-a | |||||||
10:51 AM 7/22/2020 - "American Triumph" - A Telling (teasing) Name? I noticed a string of them lately, attached to the clusters of Covid-19. Are these the (Russian Mafia) communications? - M.N.
Covid-19-Review: covid-19-review.blogspot.com/2020/07/1051-a | |||||||
| The fact that American Seafoods had put those stricter rules into place makes the source of the new outbreak somewhat of a mystery. A fishing boat docked in Dutch Harbor with 85 COVID-19 cases. Now its headed for Seward. alaskapublic.org/2020/07/19/a-f via @AKPublicNews | |||||||
The fact that American Seafoods had put those stricter rules into place makes the source of the new outbreak somewhat of a mystery.
A fishing boat docked in Dutch Harbor with 85 COVID-19 cases. Now its headed for Seward. alaskapublic.org/2020/07/19/a-f via @AKPublicNews | |||||||
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| A fishing boat docked in Dutch Harbor with 85 COVID-19 cases. Now it's headed for Seward. - Alaska Public Media | |||||||
The 85 cases are on board the American Triumph, owned by Seattle-based American Seafoods one of the biggest players in the billion-dollar Bering Sea pollock fishery. RELATED: COVID-19 outbreaks among seafood workers help push Alaskas one-day case count to new record high The Triumph arrived in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor on Thursday, with seven crew members reporting symptoms consistent with COVID-19. All seven were tested for the virus upon arrival, and six of those tests came back positive, officials announced Friday. That prompted staff from Unalaskas clinic, Iliuliuk Family and Health Services, to test the remaining 112 crew. All crew members were restricted to either the vessel or their isolation locations while in Unalaska, city officials said. Chartered planes are in the process of flying the 34 crew members who tested negative for the virus from Unalaska to Anchorage to begin a period of quarantine and symptom monitoring, said City Manager Erin Reinders. Those who tested positive are receiving further medical screening from clinic staff. RELATED: Should I dipnet? Or open the mail? Heres how Zink and 5 other Alaska health experts manage COVID-19 risks in their daily lives The American Triumph, and its crew members who tested positive, are scheduled to depart Unalaska late Sunday or early Monday with American Seafoods medical support personnel on board. Theyre scheduled to sail to Seward and arrive by Wednesday, when crew members will be moved directly to an isolation location in Anchorage for further care and monitoring. American Seafoods has brought in an additional paramedic to assist and monitor crew members during the sailing, and the vessel plans to hug the coast on its sailing to make it easier to evacuate sick people should that become necessary, said Melanee Tiura, chief executive of Unalaskas clinic. All of that has been well thought out, Tirua said. There are exit strategies if that additional level of care is needed. RELATED: Alaska has another record-high COVID-19 count with dozens of cases among seafood workers Clinic personnel are still assessing whether any of the crew members who tested positive are too sick to travel and if any of the sick individuals may need to stay in Unalaska. Unalaska is the largest community in Alaska without a critical-access hospital, and the nearest emergency room is almost 1,000 miles away, in Anchorage. Unalaskas clinic is the only healthcare facility on the island, with one part-time and four full-time providers living in the community, and four part-time providers that provide additional coverage as needed. They serve anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 year-round residents and seasonal workers. Tiura said testing 119 people from the factory trawler took a toll on the healthcare resources of the island, but she added that Unalaska still has plenty of COVID-19 testing supplies at this time. Were a small facility, Tiura said. Our team was all hands on deck for the last couple of days. Its certainly something we can recover from, and our team is in very good spirits. Theyve done an excellent job, as always. Reinders said the island and clinic are prepared and moving forward, and Unalaskas Unified Command a COVID-19 response team made up of healthcare officials, seafood industry and school district representatives, social service agencies, and the Qawalangin Tribe has planned for similar situations. Weve got the relationships in place and plans in place, Reinders said. Weve talked about this kind of thing before, and I think we have learned from our past experiences. I think were able to respond quite well to the situation. Obviously, we hope it doesnt repeat itself, but weve got a good team. The American Triumph had been at sea since June 27, fishing both offshore from Washington and Oregon and then moving to Alaska to fish for pollock. The seafood company runs six vessels that fish for pollock, hake and sole in both the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. It generated concern among Alaskans last month, after it announced more than 100 crew members on three of its vessels had tested positive for the virus in Washington, ahead of the summer fishing season in Alaska. At the time, experts questioned the companys decision to mandate a more liberal five-day quarantine period, rather than the 14 days required for fishing companies operating in Alaska. No other companies that operate large Bering Sea factory processing vessels have confirmed cases of the virus among their crews let alone an outbreak. American Seafoods subsequently said it had extended its quarantine period to two weeks. Now, before boarding, all new crew members had to undergo a series of testing and screening procedures, including two nasal swab PCR tests and the longer quarantine period, according to the company. The fact that American Seafoods had put those stricter rules into place makes the source of the new outbreak somewhat of a mystery. I cant speak at this point (about) anything specific that was done wrong, said Tiura, the clinic executive We know this is a very infectious agent, it can be difficult to detect, someone can be completely asymptomatic, can test negative, and then still develop the virus days later. So, in a large vessel like this, the ability for it to spread is significant. Reinders said Unalaska is not concerned about community spread at this time, and will not be increasing its assessment of the local risk level, which is currently set at medium. She said all cases are related to the American Seafoods vessel and that everyone was kept isolated. I think this does remind us all that this is an active pandemic that we are all currently experiencing and so, each of those individual choices that we make day in and day out, they really do make a difference, she said. And so, please remain diligent in your efforts. | |||||||
| A fishing boat docked in Dutch Harbor with 85 COVID-19 cases. Now it's headed for Seward. | |||||||
American Seafoods had more than 100 COVID-19 cases on its ships. ... a COVID-19 response team made up of healthcare officials, seafood industry and ... have confirmed cases of the virus among their crewslet alone an outbreak. | |||||||
| JBS installs "ultraviolet germicidal" ventilation to combat Covid-19 in slaughterhouses MercoPress | |||||||
One of the world's largest meatpackers said they have installed ultraviolet air cleaning equipment in some US plants, as pressure mounts on food companies to protect workers amid growing concerns about airborne transmission of the coronavirus. JBS USA, owned by Brazil's JBS SA and one of four major US beef processors, said it installed ultraviolet germicidal air sanitation equipment in plant ventilation and air purification systems that use a specific frequency range of light waves to kill germs. Tyson Foods, which produces beef, pork and chicken, said it is doing extensive research on air flow and testing ultraviolet air treatment systems across several plants. It is not known whether such technologies kill the new coronavirus. The moves underscore the mounting pressure to protect workers in the U.S. meat industry, which has seen more than 16,000 plant employees in 23 states infected with COVID-19 and 86 worker deaths related to the respiratory disease. Plant employees and their families have said processors like JBS and Tyson Foods told sick workers to show up at plants, and moved too slowly to protect them with social distancing and equipment like masks. As worker infections grew, so have meatpackers' legal problems. In one case, the family of a Pennsylvania man who died from COVID-19 sued JBS USA parent company JBS SA for failing to protect him at the meat plant where he worked. Low temperatures, which generally allow viruses to survive in the air longer, and crowded working conditions have made meatpacking plants global coronavirus hotspots. In Germany, a COVID-19 outbreak forced meatpacking plants to review infection risks posed by their cooling systems. One meatpacker had to install high-efficiency HEPA filters typically used in hospitals before being allowed to reopen on Friday. The World Health Organization last week acknowledged evidence emerging of the airborne spread of the novel coronavirus. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended meat companies consider consulting engineers to ensure adequate ventilation in work areas, but has not required changes to air systems. | |||||||
| German abattoir scandal puts cooling systems under COVID spotlight - Reuters | |||||||
July 17, 2020 / 8:36 AM / 2 days ago
German abattoir scandal puts cooling systems under COVID spotlight
(This July 17 story corrects to show company name in 15th paragraph is Howatherm not Howarth)
BERLIN (Reuters) - A COVID-19 outbreak in Germany is forcing meatpacking plants to review infection risks posed by their cooling systems, placing the industry at the sharp end of growing global concerns over airborne transmission of the coronavirus. Toennies, a slaughterhouse and meat producer, shut down one of its plants in western Germany in June after more than 1,500 workers were found to be infected with the virus. It had to install high-efficiency HEPA filters typically used in hospitals and on airplanes before being allowed to reopen on Friday. It now plans to retrofit its other sites. We anticipate that the authorities will issue this as a requirement for the entire industry, a spokesman said.
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To keep temperatures between 6 and 10 degrees Celsius (43-50°F), ventilation systems draw the air out of the meatpacking halls and cool it before pumping it back in, increasing the risk of spreading virus-laden droplets. The World Health Organization last week issued new guidelines on the airborne transmission of the virus, with its technical lead on the pandemic saying droplets appeared to be the most common infection route. The EUs public health body is assessing risks posed by workplace ventilation systems, while Germanys Agriculture Minister has also asked other industries that operate in low temperatures, like dairies and fish processing, to carry out assessments. There are nearly 1,500 meat production plants in Germany, according to the Federal Statistics Office. The countrys meat industry association said other companies were testing out ventilation filters, but not enough was known about their effectiveness in preventing the spread of COVID-19 to recommend upgrades.
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COSTLY UPGRADESBefore it could reopen, Toennies also had to install ultraviolet (UV) irradiation systems in parts of the plant where pig meat is processed.A UV lamp that kills germs with radiation can cost a few thousand euros while upgrading a meatpacking hall could amount to a five-figure sum, said Christian Rueth, marketing and sales head at UV air disinfection systems maker Heraeus Noblelight GmbH. The company has seen enquiries more than double since the Toennies outbreak, in particular from companies in the meat, fish, frozen fruit and vegetable and milk sectors. Low temperatures can reduce the performance of UV radiation, meaning plants would have to install more powerful lamps, said Christoph Kaup, CEO of ventilation equipment maker Howatherm. His firm has also seen rising enquiries, including from offices and sports halls. HEPA filters are cheaper but have higher maintenance and repair costs as they tend to clog up quickly with dust, he said. It remained to be seen if such ventilation systems could pose a problem beyond industry, for example in cinemas or offices. But if people were crowded together in rooms where the air was being recycled, the topic needed consideration, he said.
Reporting by Caroline Copley; editing by John Stonestreet
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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| German abattoir scandal puts cooling systems under COVID spotlight | |||||||
Germany's largest pork meat factory had to be shut down because of the recent coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak among its employees. | |||||||
| What We Know and Still Dont Know About COVID-19 | |||||||
COVID-19 and Psychiatric DisordersQ: What do we know about COVID-19, depression and psychiatric disorders?A: We know that the pandemic has had a profound effect on the mental health of infected individuals and on the community in general, and that the impact and psychological effects of the COVID-19 crisis differs for each generation. A study by the CDC in the spring of 2020 revealed that about one-third of Americans have clinically significant anxiety or depression, a three- to four-fold increase compared to the same time last year; the youngest age groups (18-29 years) and those from minority communities had the highest rates. From prior studies of MERS and SARS, we know there is an increased incidence of cognitive impairment, depression, anxiety and insomnia in the acute phase of infection and of PTSD in the post-infection phase. While the acute mental health effects of COVID-19 are beginning to be clear, the long-term impacts on the central nervous system will take time to uncover; neuropsychiatric manifestations may emerge long after the virus has been contained. There are several reasons why severe infections might have psychiatric consequences, including direct effects of the virus itself on the central nervous system; the impact of the human immune response to the infection (inflammatory cytokines, post-infectious autoimmunity); and the impact of interventions (prolonged intubation and use of sedatives). But there are other factors to consider. For example: How much of the increase in anxiety and depression are due to the effects of the virus itself versus the collateral effects of the pandemicsocial isolation, personal loss, economic insecurity, fear of infection and death and uncertainty about the future? Columbia researchers are attempting to learn more from neuropsychiatric and immunologic studies that will track the health of COVID-19 survivors from childhood to old age. In the meantime, clinicians must be alert for both the acute and potential long-term mental health effects of the virus, such as depression, fatigue, cognitive problems and PTSD. Mental health systems throughout the country have set up rapid response and outreach teams. CopeColumbia, for example, provides mental health services and resilience training to all members of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center community. Brian A. Fallon, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Director of the Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases Research Center at Columbia University Irving Medical Center | |||||||
| Vatican cardinal floats COVID conspiracy theory, suggests virus could be biological weapon | |||||||
A Vatican cardinal has floated a COVID conspiracy theory, suggesting that the virus could be a biological weapon.
The great powers are organising world wars, even bacteriological onesCardinal Angelo Comastri, 76, the archpriest of St. Peters Basilica in the Vatican and the vicar general for the Vatican City State, gave voice to the theory on Stanze Vaticane, an Italian TV program on the channel TgCom24.The great powers are organising world wars, even bacteriological ones; it is not excluded that COVID-19 came out of one of these laboratories in which weapons for germ warfare are made, the cardinal warned. Despite Comastris assertions, the scientific consensus is that the coronavirus is a product of natural evolution, with specialists to date having uncovered no evidence that it emerged either accidentally or purposefully from a laboratory. The cardinal was on altogether safer ground when he affirmed, roundly, that the pandemic did not come from God: God is not a punisher but a saviour.God does not punish, God saves, Comastri insisted, recalling that according to the Church and the Gospel of Jesus himself, it is God who gives us freedom to do good, but if we dont do it, it is we who do ourselves harm and it is not Christ who ruins our lives. In the face of the drama of the pandemic, God is there waiting for us on the Cross to renew His cry of love: He taught us love but it is we who close our eyes and ears to this message, the cardinal further explained. The essence of the gospel: Love wins, hate always losesFor the most part in his TV interview, Comastri struck to the consolations of theology in the times of COVID-19.He picked up, for example, on the Popes message in the Angelus July 19 on the parable of the wheat and the tares, saying that God is in no hurry to remove the tares; God works to transform the tares into grain: the example of the thief on the cross, at the last moment he becomes grain, like St. Paul, St. Augustine. God waits for even the most sinful man to be able to transform him, the cardinal explained, adding that we must wait to be able to change our hearts and ask God for forgiveness, he explained.Likewise, Comastri affirmed that Jesus himself who showed the world the eyes of God the title of the cardinals new book with the Saviour entering history to justify humanity but through love and without rancour. Thats what the story of Maximilian Kolbe, Catholic priest martyr in the Auschwitz camp, tells us. Love wins, hate always loses, the cardinal emphasised.Comastri also had a word of interpretation of Pope Francis constant concern for the poor, and reminded viewers that before God we are all poor; wealth is not material well-being, as we can see in the societies of Northern Europe where well-being reigns but one is unhappy. When God is lacking, society is unhappy, and we must insist on this when we speak of the poor', the cardinal highlighted. On Hagia Sophia: No mosque has been transformed into a Catholic Church and no Catholic has ever shot an ImamBut Comastri waded back into the waters of controversy with a final comment on the fate of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, the sixth-century Byzantine basilica turned into a mosque in 1453 after the Fall of Constantinople turned into a secular state museum in 1935 and last July 10 turned into a mosque again.No mosque has been transformed into a Catholic Church and no Catholic has ever shot an Imam, the cardinal responded to the Hagia Sophia mosque reconversion. They even shot the Pope himself, on 13 May 1981 in St. Peters Square, the cardinal recalled, in what appeared to be a Turkophobic slight referring to would-be papal assassin and Turkish citizen Mehmet Ali Agca.Between Turkey and the rest of the world, and between Christians and Muslims, if we want dialogue, it must be done with honest and loyal weapons, with sincerity in looking into each others eyes and responding with facts, Comastri concluded. More stories on the Church and COVID conspiracy theories, on Novena:Slaves of Satan: Spanish Catholic university president accuses Gates and Soros of wanting to control world with COVID-19 chipRussian Orthodox hierarchs join ranks of COVID conspiracy theorists, warn of possible coming of AntichristMoldovan Orthodox Church accuses Bill Gates of Antichrist plot to develop COVID-19 vaccine, control people with 5GChurch historian rips cardinals COVID conspiracy claim: Its so ridiculous that it discredits itselfCardinal Müller cries persecution after blowback from COVID conspiracyGerman Bishops take down Cardinal Müller over COVID conspiracy rantGerman vicar general lashes out at cardinals over outrageous right-wing populist rhetoric in COVID conspiracy theoryProspect of one world government after COVID-19 divides Catholic conservatives, progressivesRelated
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PhD in ancient Jewish/Christian history and philosophy. Lecturer in ethics at Loyola University Maryland, Alcalá de Henares (Spain) campus. Religion journalist with 4 years experience.
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The PRRA insert at the S1/S2 site modulates cellular tropism of SARS-CoV-2 and ACE2 usage by the closely related Bat raTG13
View ORCID ProfileShufeng Liu, Prabhuanand Selvaraj, Christopher Lien, Wells W. Wu, Chao-Kai Chou, Tony Wang
doi: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.20.213280" rel="nofollow">https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.20.213280</a>
This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review [what does this mean?].
AbstractBiochemical and structural analyses suggest that SARS-CoV-2 is well-adapted to infecting human and the presence of four residues (PRRA) at the S1/S2 site within the Spike protein may lead to unexpected tissue or host tropism. Here we report that SARS-CoV-2 efficiently utilized ACE2 of 9 species except mouse to infect 293T cells. Similarly, pseudoviruses bearing spike protein derived from either the bat raTG13 or pangolin GX, two closely related animal coronaviruses, utilized ACE2 of a diverse range of animal species to gain entry. Removal of PRRA from SARS-CoV-2 Spike displayed distinct effects on pseudoviral entry into different cell types. Strikingly, insertion of PRRA into the raTG13 Spike selectively abrogated the usage of horseshoe bat and pangolin ACE2 but conferred usage of mouse ACE2 by the relevant pseudovirus to enter cells. Together, our findings identified a previously unrecognized effect of the PRRA insert on SARS-CoV-2 and raTG13 spike proteins.
Paper in collection COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 preprints from medRxiv and bioRxiv
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| New study refutes Chinas narrative of COVID-19 being a natural animal-to-human transmission, Opinions & Blogs News | |||||||
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the Chinese Communist Party has desperately tried to convince the world that SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19, was naturally transmitted from animals to humans.
That is, SARS-CoV-2, over time, naturally mutated in animals until it attained structures capable of infecting humans. The closest ancestor to SARS-CoV-2 so far identified by Chinas Wuhan Institute of Virology is the bat RaTG13 coronavirus with over 96% identity at the genomic level. Besides bat coronaviruses, two pangolin coronaviruses share up to 90% and 85.2% sequence identity with SARS-CoV-2. Also read | How scientific misinformation about COVID-19 has become Chinese propaganda It is important to note, however, that, while SARS-CoV-2 appears to be of bat ancestry, there is still no definitive evidence of an intermediate host, such as pangolins, that could have transmitted the virus to humans. When asked about that possibility of pangolins being the SARS-CoV-2 host, Dr Ralph Baric, a coronavirus expert from the University of North Carolina, in a March 15, 2020 interview, stated pangolins were not the source. Pangolins have over 3,000 nucleotide changes - no way they are the reservoir species [for SARS-CoV-2], absolutely no chance," he said. Most of the research on SARS-CoV-2 has been focussed on the cascade of events regulated by the protein part of the spike glycoprotein, or S-protein, which has two sections, S1, primarily responsible for binding to the human cell and S2, driving fusion with the cell membrane and entry. The S1 section contains a sequence of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, called the receptor binding domain (RBD), which defines the coronavirus ability to bind to the specific human angiotensin converting enzyme-2 receptor (ACE2). Several scientific studies have demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 already demonstrated high-affinity human binding even in the earliest cases and that it appeared to be pre-adapted for human infection. Between the S1 and S2 sections of SARS-CoV-2 is a furin polybasic cleavage site (amino acid sequence proline, arginine, arginine, alanine or PRRA), a distinctive feature widely known for its ability to enhance pathogenicity and transmissibility in coronaviruses , but NOT PRESENT in any closely related bat or pangolin coronavirus. To summarise, it is believed that SARS-CoV binds to the human cell ACE2 receptor making the furin polybasic cleavage site more accessible to human cell protein cleavage enzymes. The cleavage of the SARS-CoV-2 protein at the S1 and S2 junction facilitates the fusion of the SARS-CoV-2 membrane with the human cell membrane allowing the insertion of viral genetic material for subsequent virus replication and release. Also read | COVID-19: Scientific disinformation is, quite literally, killing us The most astounding finding of the new study is that insertion of the PRRA polybasic cleavage site into the bat RaTG13 coronavirus, the closest known relative to SARS-CoV-2, but lacks the PRRA site, caused the modified RaTG13 to lose its ability to infect both bats and pangolins. It is, therefore, highly unlikely that SARS-CoV-2 could have originated naturally in bats or pangolins, if the addition of the PRRA furin polybasic cleavage site selects against the survival of the virus in either animal. This new study further confirms the claim that SARS-CoV-2, which appears to have the backbone of a bat coronavirus, must have been genetically manipulated in the laboratory. Lawrence Sellin, PhD is a retired US Army Reserve colonel. He has previously worked at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and conducted basic and clinical research in the pharmaceutical industry. His email address is <a href="mailto:lawrence.sellin@gmail.com">lawrence.sellin@gmail.com</a>. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.) | |||||||
| Google Alert - Sars-Cov-2 origins: Italy's earliest coronavirus strains did not arrive from China, study suggests | |||||||
Researchers in Milan collected more than 300 blood samples of Covid-19 patients from the Lombardy region between February and April and traced the origin of the viral strains by changes in their genes. Italy was the first country in ... | |||||||
| Covid-19 came from europe, not china - Google Search | |||||||
Stay up to date on results for Covid-19 came from europe, not china.
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| Italys earliest coronavirus strains did not arrive from China, study suggests | |||||||
Pernos team collected blood samples from 371 patients in 12 provinces across the region. They were randomly chosen from people admitted to hospital with mild, moderate or severe symptoms. About 7 per cent of the samples failed to produce high-quality reading of the virus full genome, but the remainder still provided the largest sample base so far from the Lombardy region.
The strains belonged to two separate lineages, each playing a dominant role in some provinces. But they did not contain viral strains isolated in the first months of the outbreak in China, said the paper.
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Italy banned travellers from China on January 31, after a Chinese couple tested positive for Covid-19 in Rome. But according to a study by the Italian National Institute of Health last month, the virus had already
in mid-December.
04:09
Chinese respiratory disease expert on origins of Covid-19 and Wuhan virus lab conspiracy theories
Pernos new study showed that there could have been multiple introductions of the virus to the Lombardy region. These strains formed relatively isolated clusters in separate areas. One possible direction of the source was Central Europe, where strains with similar mutations had been detected, according to the researchers.
Their calculation suggested that these entries may have happened in the second half of January, based on the assumption that the virus was mutating at a relatively constant speed although that may not have been the case.
The Italian study is one of several around the world to have found strains that were not traced to China.
In New York, the viral strains circulating in March
, which researchers said was unanticipated because government scientists had gone put extra emphasis on collecting samples in Chinese-speaking neighbourhoods.
First known coronavirus case in France may trace back to December, doctors say
02:41
First known coronavirus case in France may trace back to December, doctors say
Rather, the sequence analysis suggests probable introductions of Sars-CoV-2 from Europe, from other US locations and local introductions from within New York, said the official report of the joint research by the citys Department of Health and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, released last Friday.
A study by the Pasteur Institute in Paris in May confirmed that the outbreak in France had no direct link to China. Another study
identified 67 introductions into their country and found only one that related to a Chinese source.
Some other studies challenged the belief that the pandemic originated in Wuhan, where the virus was first detected in late December.
A research team led by Spains top biologists identified the virus in a waste water sample in Barcelona dated back to March last year. In the Brazilian beach town Florianopolis, drainage samples collected and stored in government research facilities in November
.
Benjamin Neuman, professor and chair of biological sciences with the Texas A&M University Texarkana, said that the recent findings could be potentially a really big story but that the data would require more scrutiny.
07:59
Exclusive: Coronavirus outbreak may have started in September, say British scientists
For example, the viral strains detected in sewage samples should have their genome sequenced to determine their position in the evolutionary tree, he said.
If the sequences are indeed from that early part of the outbreak, it should resemble the earliest sequences from China, possibly with mutations that have not yet been seen, Professor Neuman said.
They should not have some of the mutations that appeared later in other parts of the world, he added.
A government epidemiologist in Beijing, who asked not to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media, said tracing the origin of the coronavirus by its genes had limitations.
The copies preserved in poor environments such as waste water were probably compromised and unlikely to produce full genome sequences, they said. It would be difficult to estimate a strains age by mutation because a genetic change appearing later in an international database may not mean it was younger than those sequenced earlier.
A mutation could be in circulation for some time in a remote corner of the world, said the researcher. Can we say that it did not exist until sequencing?
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Euro Weekly News Spain.
The Independent - World.
Covid-19-Review.
mikenov on Twitter.
1. World from Michael_Novakhov (27 sites).
Alaska Public Media.
MercoPress.
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Novena.
Disease X-19 as the Bio-weapon from Michael_Novakhov (3 sites).
Covid-19-Review.
Disease X-19 Origins from Michael_Novakhov (3 sites).____________________________________________________________________________
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| Google Alert - covid-19 in meat plants: COVID-19 cases surpass 100000 in NC Forsyth County's death total at 41. |
| Mon, 20 Jul 2020 17:58:28 -0400 COVID-19 related deaths rose by eight to 1,642, while hospitalizations ... high-risk jobs, such as meat processing plants and long-term care centers. |
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