Covid Origins: Updated Chinese Study Confirms Presence Of Raccoon Dog
Wednesday's study, published in the journal Nature, “confirmed the existence" of the animal and others susceptible to the coronavirus at the Wuhan market, The New York Times reported. But researchers stressed that they found no direct evidence that a raccoon dog was infected and have not ruled out a scenario in which people gave the virus to animals.
The New York Times:
China Publishes Data Showing Raccoon Dog DNA At Wuhan Market
Chinese government scientists on Wednesday published a long-awaited study about a market in the city of Wuhan, acknowledging that animals susceptible to the coronavirus were there around the time the virus emerged. But the scientists also said that it remained unclear how the pandemic began. The study, published in the journal Nature, focused on swabs taken from surfaces in early 2020 at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, a large market where many of the earliest known Covid patients had worked or shopped. The Chinese scientists had posted an early version of their genetic analysis of those samples in February 2022, but at the time downplayed the possibility of animal infections at the market. (Mueller, 4/5)
CIDRAP:
With New Nature Study, Scientists Continue To Debate SARS-CoV-2 Origins
Chinese researchers who isolated three live SARS-CoV-2 viruses and viral DNA from environmental samples at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China, say the findings don't definitively show that the pandemic spilled over into humans from animals, according to a study published today in Nature. ... On the Zenodo preprint server, the group posted its own analysis of the sequences, which it said support—but don't definitively prove—that the virus likely jumped from animals (eg, raccoon dog) to people at the market. (Van Beusekom, 4/5)
More on the spread of covid —
Stat:
Where Is The White House’s New Pandemic Response Office?
In the wake of a pandemic that claimed more than 1 million American lives, Congress in December instructed the White House to create a new, permanent office to coordinate the government’s readiness for the next pandemic threat. The White House hasn’t gotten around to actually getting it up and running. The office was intended to be a permanent solution for the ongoing need for the White House to hire “czars” to handle public health threats like Ebola, AIDS, and Covid-19. But Biden hasn’t nominated anyone to lead it, just a month before a crucial turning point in the administration’s pandemic response. (Cohrs, 4/6)
FiercePharma:
FDA Authorizes InflaRx's Anti-Inflammation Drug For Severe COVID
The FDA has granted an emergency use authorization for InflaRx’s vilobelimab to treat critically ill COVID patients, the German company said in a press release Monday. The drug also bears the moniker Gohibic, and it’s only allowed for use within 48 hours of a patient receiving invasive mechanical ventilation or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which are typically utilized in the most severe patients experiencing acute respiratory failure. (Liu, 4/4)
The Boston Globe:
Health Groups Call On Mass. To Keep Mask Mandates In Health Care Settings
A coalition of health groups is urging the Healey administration to maintain universal masking in health care settings when the federal and state public health emergencies for COVID-19 lift on May 11. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last fall eased its guidelines for masks in health care settings, saying they were not necessary in areas where COVID-19 transmission was not high. But Massachusetts was among several states that maintained universal masking. (Lazar, 4/5)
Becker's Hospital Review:
Solidifying Long COVID-19's Definition Is Key, Researchers Say
While some aspects of long COVID-19 — sometimes referred to as post-COVID-19 condition, or PCC — are much better understood than before, researchers have yet to land on a unified definition for the condition. ... he major complications around research on the condition relate both to its various names and broad references to a collection of different symptoms after a coronavirus infection, which "makes assimilating and comparing findings from current studies difficult," U.K. researchers Daniel Pan, MD, and Manish Pareek, PhD, wrote in an April 5 report published in JAMA. (Hollowell, 4/5)
And a vaccine skeptic is running for president —
The New York Times:
Robert Kennedy Jr., A Noted Vaccine Skeptic, Files To Run For President
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the political activist known most recently for his campaign to discredit coronavirus vaccines, filed paperwork on Wednesday to run for president as a Democrat, offering a potential long-shot challenge to President Biden. (Gabriel, 4/5)
