巴西专家：去年11月下水道中已存在新冠病毒

巴西圣卡塔琳娜联邦大学的专家组2日宣布，他们在对巴西圣卡塔琳娜州首府弗洛里亚诺波利斯市去年10月到今年3月期间的下水道水样分析中发现，11月份的下水道水样中存在新冠肺炎病毒。

这一发现比美洲大陆官方宣布的第一例新冠肺炎确诊病例——今年1月21日美国确诊第一例新冠肺炎病例早两个月，比巴西政府宣布的今年2月底出现的新冠肺炎确诊病例早了三个月。

Traces of the novel coronavirus were found in sewage water samples from last November in Florianopolis, the capital and second largest city of the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, a research group from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) of Brazil announced Thursday.

The research team collected urban sewage samples in Florianopolis, Santa Catalina, in six independent sampling events from October 30 until March 4. 

The findings are two months earlier than the first official confirmed case of COVID-19 in the Americas on January 21, and much earlier than the first reported case in Brazil at the end of February.

这份题为《2019年11月巴西圣卡塔琳娜下水道发现新冠肺炎病毒》的研究报告由14位圣卡塔琳娜联邦大学的研究人员联名发布。

报告指出，新冠肺炎病毒早在世界范围内宣布第一例确诊病例之前1个多月已经出现在巴西。

此前，西班牙研究人员在去年3月废水样本中检出新冠病毒；在意大利北部城市米兰和都灵2019年12月的废水样本中，也检测出了新冠病毒的遗传物质。

"We detected SARS-CoV-2 in two samples collected independently on November 27, 2019," said a report published by 14 researchers from UFSC.

"Our results show that SARS-CoV-2 has been circulating in Brazil since late November 2019, much earlier than the first reported case in the Americas."

Apart from Brazil, coronavirus had been identified in sewage in Spain and Italy in 2019 before the first confirmed cases were reported in Europe earlier this year.

Spanish study finds coronavirus traces 

in March 2019 sewage sample

巴塞罗那大学教授、最近轰动的2019年水样研究小组组长Albert Bosch在接受最新采访时表示，在去年3月的废水水样中发现的新冠病毒浓度与今年3、4月的水样中的浓度相当。

他说，去年没有发现可能是由于当时正值流感季节，大家都没有警觉，于是这种狡猾的病毒便伪装成了普通的流感，逃过人们的视线。

The concentration of SARS-CoV-2 in the March 2019 sample was at the same level as samples from March and April 2020, according to Albert Bosch, biology professor at the University of Barcelona and coordinator of the study that detected traces of the novel coronavirus in waste water samples collected on March 12, 2019.

"Maybe it wasn't detected at the time because it was flu season and nobody was looking for it. We weren't on alert, and it (the novel coronavirus) could mask itself with normal flu," he said during an interview on Spanish television.

Study suggests traces of coronavirus were in waste water of Milan and Turin 

last December

当地时间6月18日，意大利国家高等卫生研究院在官网发布报告指出，在意大利北部城市米兰和都灵12月的废水样本中，检测出了新冠病毒的遗传物质。

此次公布的检测结果共涉及时间跨度从2019年10月至2020年2月的40个检测样本，以及2018年9月至2019年6月的24个样本，并由两个实验室通过不同的方法进行分析。

结果显示，在2019年12月18日米兰以及都灵的废水样本中、以及2020年1月29日博洛尼亚的废水样本中检测出了新冠病毒的遗传物质核糖核酸。

Genetic material from the novel coronavirus was detected in samples collected from sewage in Milan and Turin last December, according to an announcement released by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, one of the leading institutions of the Italian National Health Service.

40 samples taken between October 2019 and February 2020, as well as 24 samples from September 2018 through to June 2019 have been analyzed, according to researchers.

"Results confirmed by two different methods in two different laboratories indicate the presence of SARS-COV-2 RNA in samples taken in Milan and Turin on December 18, 2019 and in Bologna on January 29, 2020," said Giuseppina La Rosa of the Department of Environment and Health at the Italian National Health Institute.

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