There is some important and disturbing information coming out of China right now re. severe pneumonia with similarities to SARS, and etiology currently not yet confirmed. See the following @ProMED_mail post: promedmail.org/post/6864153
@ProMED_mail Here is new information just released from the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission re. undiagnosed pneumonia.
@hongying_li
has translated this and we've submitted it to
@ProMED_mail
wjw.wuhan.gov.cn/front/web/show…
@hongying_li
has translated this and we've submitted it to
@ProMED_mail
wjw.wuhan.gov.cn/front/web/show…
@ProMED_mail @hongying_li ...and here's a v. useful report with images of the market where cases were first found mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MjM5OD…
@ProMED_mail @hongying_li Note that the market is called a "seafood market", but also sells butchered mammal meat. SARS has not been ruled out, and we've heard that Chinese labs are using a range of tools to test for SARS & SARS-related CoVs, as well as to rule out usual suspects of pneumonia...
@ProMED_mail @hongying_li Putting this into context - there's concern about another SARS-like outbreak, but having worked with Chinese collaborators for >15 yrs on SARSr-CoVs, the labs in China are far more efficient now than they were in 2003, and the clinics are more numerous & better equipped...
@ProMED_mail @hongying_li ...the China CDC & Provincial CDCs are working effectively already, and there is an openness and transparency right now that wasn't there during the first SARS cases. Also no sign of wider outbreak yet....Let's hope this is not a novel viral agent, and that it resolves rapidly!
@ProMED_mail @hongying_li Some background on the risk of re-emergence of #SARS-coronavirus or a novel SARS-related CoV. @EcoHealthNYC has been working since 2004 in China to trace back origins of SARS-CoV... @ProMED_mail @nycbat @hongying_li @TheMenacherryLab @Laurie_Garrett
@ProMED_mail @hongying_li @EcoHealthNYC @nycbat @Laurie_Garrett We showed it likely originated in bats & that there's a large SARSr-CoV diversity in bats in China, see papers: ecohealthalliance.org/wp-content/upl… ecohealthalliance.org/wp-content/upl…
@ProMED_mail @hongying_li @EcoHealthNYC @nycbat @Laurie_Garrett ...We isolated SARSr-CoVs that bind to human cells in the lab & @Baric_Lab @TheMenacheryLab + others showed some of these have pandemic potential, able to infect humanized mice & not protected by candidate SARS vaccine or Monoclonal therapeutics. ecohealthalliance.org/wp-content/upl…
@ProMED_mail @hongying_li @EcoHealthNYC @nycbat @Laurie_Garrett @Baric_Lab @TheMenacheryLab We worked with Wuhan Institute of Virology (Zhengli Shi, Ben Hu), @dukenus (Linfa Wang) to design serol tests, and showed that people in rural China are exposed to #bat coronaviruses...ecohealthalliance.org/wp-content/upl…
@ProMED_mail @hongying_li @EcoHealthNYC @nycbat @Laurie_Garrett @Baric_Lab @TheMenacheryLab @dukenus We've just been re-funded by @NIAIDNews to continue this work and assess whether exposure to these #bat CoVs is related to illness in people.
@ProMED_mail @hongying_li @EcoHealthNYC @nycbat @Laurie_Garrett @Baric_Lab @TheMenacheryLab @dukenus @NIAIDNews As part of this surveillance & through our leadership in China + other SE Asian countries in @PREDICTproject we also found a novel #bat-origin CoV causing death of ~25,000 piglets in 5 farms, S. China (w/ Wuhan Inst. Virol., & @dukenus incl. Dani Anderson) ecohealthalliance.org/wp-content/upl…
@ProMED_mail @hongying_li @EcoHealthNYC @nycbat @Laurie_Garrett @Baric_Lab @TheMenacheryLab @dukenus @NIAIDNews @PREDICTproject All this work shows that 1) there are plenty of diverse CoVs related to #SARS and less-related circulating in #bats (and other mammals) in SE Asia, incl. S. and Central China...
@ProMED_mail @hongying_li @EcoHealthNYC @nycbat @Laurie_Garrett @Baric_Lab @TheMenacheryLab @dukenus @NIAIDNews @PREDICTproject 2) There is a huge interface among wildlife, livestock and people in the region that viruses are actively moving across...
@ProMED_mail @hongying_li @EcoHealthNYC @nycbat @Laurie_Garrett @Baric_Lab @TheMenacheryLab @dukenus @NIAIDNews @PREDICTproject 3) There is high potential for some of these viruses to cause illness in people and livestock....
@ProMED_mail @hongying_li @EcoHealthNYC @nycbat @Laurie_Garrett @Baric_Lab @TheMenacheryLab @dukenus @NIAIDNews @PREDICTproject 4) The GOOD news!! is that leading scientists from the US, China and many other countries are working together to actively block the ability of these viruses to spillover, and to rapidly detect them if they do...
@ProMED_mail @hongying_li @EcoHealthNYC @nycbat @Laurie_Garrett @Baric_Lab @TheMenacheryLab @dukenus @NIAIDNews @PREDICTproject This includes active collaboration with China CDC, Wuhan Inst. Virology, @dukenus, @Baric_Lab, and adiverse array of Provincial CDCs, universities and labs across S. and Central China...
@ProMED_mail @hongying_li @EcoHealthNYC @nycbat @Laurie_Garrett @Baric_Lab @TheMenacheryLab @dukenus @NIAIDNews @PREDICTproject We're all hoping this outbreak is not #SARS and is rapidly controlled, and that this will be a wake-up call for proactive surveillance across wildlife-human-livestock interfaces in EID hotspots, guided by predictive modeling to fight against potential pandemics of #DiseaseX...
@ProMED_mail @hongying_li @EcoHealthNYC @nycbat @Laurie_Garrett @Baric_Lab @TheMenacheryLab @dukenus @NIAIDNews @PREDICTproject There is the beginnings of a global mechanism to do this, working with @NIAIDNews, @rd_blueprint, @CEPIvaccines, @wellcometrust, and the leading agencies in countries like China that are often on the frontline of disease emergence.. but these relationships need our support!!!
