If a person and an animal are in a room and you find infectious virus on surfaces in that room, how can you distinguish whether the virus was shed by the person or the animal?
We've been spending most of the pandemic worrying about fomite transmission (getting infected by touching surfaces or objects) and disinfecting the **** out of our workspaces.
Isn't the underlying assumption that sick people are shedding infectious virus onto surfaces?
Isn't the underlying assumption that sick people are shedding infectious virus onto surfaces?
A study of the Diamond Princess cruise hit by Covid-19 found that virus RNA "was identified on a variety of surfaces in cabins of both symptomatic and asymptomatic infected passengers up to 17 days after cabins were vacated on the Diamond Princess..."
cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/6…
cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/6…
Experts were so concerned about surface transmission of SARS2 that they conducted studies to see how long the virus could survive and remain infectious on various materials, including library books - no one is imagining a natural spillover in a library.
oclc.org/realm/research…
oclc.org/realm/research…
Reported by @nature news: "viable virus was present on skin for up to 4 days, but on clothes it survived for less than 8 hours. And others found infectious virus on library books bound in natural and synthetic leather after 8 days..."
nature.com/articles/d4158…
nature.com/articles/d4158…
@Nature If you find infectious virus on surfaces in a library, a cruise, or a market where a human superspreader event had occurred, it doesn't mean there was a raccoon dog shedding virus in these places.
You have to check for animals infected with the virus.
You have to check for animals infected with the virus.
Although by 22 Jan 2020, the Chinese authorities had announced that SARS2 most likely came from wildlife illegally sold at Huanan seafood market... by end of Jan, they were reporting to the @OIEAnimalHealth that they had found zero SARS2+ animal samples at the market.
Some believe that, despite extensive powers and advanced tech, the Chinese authorities & scientists were not able to track down the proximal animal source of the virus at these markets or any of their suppliers.
They're saying all of the farmers+traders outsmarted their gov.
They're saying all of the farmers+traders outsmarted their gov.
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