美国新冠肺炎确诊病例超30万 FDA批准首例新冠病毒抗体检测 据美国约翰斯·霍普金斯大学实时统计数据，截至北京时间5日晚8时37分，美国新冠肺炎确诊病例达312245例，累计死亡人数达8503例。 The U.S. reported 312,245 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 8,503 deaths as of 20:37 BJT on Sunday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.
此前，美国总统特朗普在白宫发布会上表示，美国食品和药品管理局已经批准首例新冠病毒抗体检测。该检测有助于研究新冠病毒的传播规律，以及新冠感染者愈后免疫情况。 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday issued its first emergency authorization for COVID-19 antibody blood tests, which can be used to identify people who have recovered and help develop a vaccine. 美国医生1月初曾患“流感”网友跟帖称：我更早 近期，美国新冠病毒检测问题一直是媒体讨论的热点话题。
当地时间3日，一位来自美国佛罗里达州的儿科医生Peter Antevy对自己新冠病毒抗体的状态进行了检测，发现显示IgG+，也就是有“曾经感染的迹象”。 他在推特帖文中称，自己曾于今年一月份的第一周就病得很重，“症状像流感一样但情况更糟”。Dr. Peter Antevy, a U.S. pediatric emergency medicine physician in South Florida, wrote on his Twitter account that he had developed a severe flu-like illness in the first week of January and almost went to seek help. "I got very sick, no sleep for 2 days," he posted. "Had no idea about what it was." Antevy checked his COVID-19 antibody status on April 3, and the results came back positive, indicating that he had a past infection.
Comments in Antevy's post revealed similar situations around the country. Hundreds of users replied to his post, claiming horrible symptoms they had developed in the past several months before the first COVID-19 patient was identified on January 21. People are now questioning whether the virus was widespread before everyone knew about it and wondering how many people have had it already.
病毒在更早时间就已经开始流行？
新冠病毒到底什么时候开始在各国流行的？ 尽管美国疾病预防与控制中心(CDC)公布美国境内第一例新冠肺炎病例是在当地时间1月21日。但“病毒在更早时间就已经开始流行”的怀疑一直存在。 如意大利最早一些家庭医生在10月、11月、12月接触到重症肺炎时，就发现跟普通流感不同。 此前，在美国国会众议院一场有关新冠病毒的听证会上，美国疾病预防与控制中心主任雷德菲尔德也曾表示，目前美国确实有原本被诊断为患流感、实际却是感染新冠病毒而死亡的情况。 Speculations around the exact time the novel coronavirus circulated in each country are everywhere. Italy, the U.S., Britain, Brazil and many other countries reported strange pneumonia cases in December, November, and even in late October. During the House Oversight Committee discussion on the novel coronavirus response in March, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also mentioned some flu deaths in the U.S. were actually COVID-19 patients. But hospitals just failed to test them. Identifying COVID-19 antibodies is very important in helping doctors determine how widely the virus has spread and identify who has developed an immune response. Test results will also help scientists in vaccine development.
在与《环球时报》的采访中，武汉大学医学病毒研究所杨占秋教授觉得这一问题并不难找出答案，“只要将当时有疑似症状的人的血清样本拿出来进行检测就可以了。”但关键问题是，他不太清楚临床医生是否会保留病患的样本。 The Global Times held an interview with Yang Zhanqiu, a professor from the Institute of Medical Viruses at Wuhan University on April 4, and Yang believes that it's theoretically not difficult to find the answer from a serum sample test from previous patients with suspected symptoms. The problem is that he doesn't know whether hospitals have kept samples that could be tested.
检测结果是否准确？
在Peter Antevy发布的图片中，字母G旁边显示一条淡淡的横线（字母C的横线为颜色对照标准），这代表新型冠状病毒特异性IgG抗体呈阳性。 As is shown in the photo posted by Peter Antevy in his tweet, there is a faint line beside letter G (C serves as reference), which means he was once infected with COVID-19 and has the IgG antibody in his blood.
据他在留言中提供的一则说明文档显示，该检测工具对IgG抗体的敏感性达到98.8%，特异性达到98.7%。 According to the instruction document Antevy provided in his comments, the antibody test device has a sensitivity of 98.8 percent for IgG antibodies and the corresponding specificity stands at 98.7 percent. 不过，因为图片中IgG的横线颜色确实很淡，有人对检测的准确度持怀疑态度。 However, some remain skeptical about the testing results, saying the line beside G is too weak.
一位网友说：“我的理解是，对于新冠病毒和其他冠状病毒，IgG分析的特异性并不是很好。我会谨慎使用（该工具的结果），因为许多人的IgG谱系都很宽泛（并且该条色带不太亮。）” 杨教授也认为，是否为真的IgG阳性还需要通过酶标仪去检测，而不能肉眼判断。 Yang also pointed out that people can't make judgements simply by looking and a further test through a microplate reader is needed to draw a conclusion. “从学术研究角度，我建议世界卫生组织牵头呼吁对更早有疑似症状的患者进行IgG抗体检测，确认他们是否曾感染过新冠病毒。” "The World Health Organization (WHO) should take the lead in calling for IgG antibody tests in earlier patients with suspected symptoms to confirm whether they have been infected with the novel coronavirus," said Yang. 未来两周死亡人数将会激增美国白宫：防疫工作至关重要
据Peter Antevy最新发布的推特显示，在两次检测结果呈阳性后，第三、四次检测均为阴性。他也无法确切表明自己感染了新冠病毒。 According to Antevy's tweets from April 5, however, the 3rd and 4th tests were negative. "I'm back to square one. I now cannot confidently say I had this virus." 最终结果到底如何还有待进一步观察，但美国目前的疫情形势不容乐观。 当地时间4月4日，特朗普在白宫记者发布会上表示，接下来两周将是美国抗疫形势最严峻的时刻，死亡人数将会激增。 President Donald Trump told Americans to brace for a big spike in coronavirus fatalities in the coming days, as the country faces what he called the toughest two weeks of the pandemic. "There's going to be a lot of death," Trump said at a briefing with reporters at the White House.