Even patients with mild symptoms are capable of transmitting the 2019-nCoV coronavirus, according to a team of scientists from the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology and Munich Clinic Schwabing.
TEM image of 2019-nCoV particles. Image credit: Zhu et al, doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2001017.
“Working independently of each other, Charité’s Institute of Virology and the Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology regularly monitor viral shedding in patients currently receiving treatment at Munich Clinic Schwabing,” the researchers explained.
“During the course of these investigations, we found several cases in which the infectious 2019-nCoV virus could be isolated from nose and throat swabs which had been obtained from patients with mild symptoms and propagated in cell culture.”
“These patients presented with symptoms which were reminiscent of the common cold rather than severe pneumonia.”
The team also found evidence that 2019-nCoV replicates not only in the lungs but also in the nose, throat and gut.
“Our combined observations indicate that even people with mild or early symptoms of common cold — sore throat, signs of sinusitis, mild malaise without fever — can pass on the 2019-nCoV virus,” the scientists said.
2019-nCoV coronavirus. Image credit: University of Hong Kong.
2019-nCoV coronavirus continues its global spread:
More than 40,500 cases of the virus have been confirmed worldwide, with the vast majority of those in mainland China.
The total number of deaths from 2019-nCoV has topped 910, according to authorities, officially outpacing the global death toll from the SARS outbreak of 2003.
The largest outbreak outside mainland China is on board a cruise ship docked in the Japanese port of Yokohama, south of Tokyo. As of Monday afternoon local time, 135 people on board the ship had tested positive for the virus, with at least 24 Americans among the infected. Thousands of passengers and crew have been quarantined on board for almost a week, and continue to be tested by the Japanese health authorities.
China began going back to work today, after the Lunar New Year holiday became an extended quarantine for hundreds of millions in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. Even though businesses are gradually resuming operations, many people remain under quarantine, working from home where possible.
The outbreak is driving up the cost of food, healthcare and clothing in China.
The virus is also hurting the global economy — snarling supply chains and disrupting companies.
