French doctors say they found a Covid-19 patient from December
Source: CNN
There's new evidence that the coronavirus may have been in France weeks earlier than was previously thought.
Doctors at a Paris hospital say they've found evidence that one patient admitted in December was infected with Covid-19. If verified, this finding would show that the virus was already circulating in Europe at that time -- well before the first known cases were diagnosed in France or hotspot Italy.
"Covid-19 was already spreading in France in late December 2019, a month before the official first cases in the country," the team at Groupe Hospitalier Paris Seine in Saint-Denis wrote in a study published Sunday in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents.
The first official reports of Covid-19 in France were reported on Jan. 24, in two people who had a history of travel to Wuhan, China.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/04/health/france-coronavirus-december-death-intl/index.html
robbedvoter
(28,290 posts)My 91 y o MIL had a 3 weeks dry cough with feeling tired. I have a feeling we all had it - the rest of us asymptomatic. I have a feeling asymptomatic is the rule, not the exception for 👑🤣. Remember, all the numbers you see are just people hospitalized. They didnt even count those calling their doctors with symptoms who rode it at home.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,339 posts)Only the brother in law is feeling slight symptoms. They think the dad got it at a doctors appointment.
They think the mom and dad are over it as they show some antibodies that are a marker.
Weird.
The four of them are living under the same roof because the sister and brother in law are having their house renovated.
They are in Texas
cannabis_flower
(3,765 posts)I think I had it starting around March 10. I worked the Democratic Primary March 3rd (about 1000) people showed up, drove for Uber that week (Rodeo canceled after several people go infected) and also substitute taught a couple of times that week.
Got sick March 10 or so with a dry cough, a sore throat, muscle aches, feverish (but no fever until about a week in and only about 99.7), and fatigue. Lasted about 3 weeks. I wasn't very sick but I was sick. Hopefully they will start doing antibody tests.
Igel
(35,356 posts)The only way to "find it" is not by doing antibody tests on live humans but by looking at stuff months old: samples from corpses, old flu swabs or samples taken from people back in January or December (or, in theory, earlier).
The only thing an antibody test done on you now would show is whether you've been infected more than 3-4 weeks ago. You might have been asymptomatic in early April; you might have been sick with the virus back in December. The antibody test won't be evidence. It gives no real time depth.
Which is what we're after. At least for now. (If we get it we'll go completely delusional, but we can wait for that discussion.)
roamer65
(36,747 posts)I want an antibody test NOW.
SunSeeker
(51,698 posts)I remember thinking, WTF, I can't yawn, this is NOT normal.
It started around Jan. 6, I live in Southern California. Went to the doctor, they told me to just take over the counter decongestants and cough medicine. No fever, but after three weeks of this coughing, I went back and they checked my oxygen saturation levels and it read 86%. I told them I had never had anything below 99% before. Then the nurse checked her own oxygen saturation with the meter she used on me and it read 88% for her. She said the meter must be faulty (!). They listened to my lungs with a stethoscope, said they sounded clear, and because I didn't have a fever, they just sent me home. About a week later, I finally started to feel better. The coughing stopped, and my oxygen saturation levels are back up to between 94 and 98 (bought my own meter!). But still not back to 99%. And I still feel some fatigue. It's fucking MAY 4, four months of this shit.
roamer65
(36,747 posts)EndlessWire
(6,565 posts)Patient with bilateral lung contusions from the steering wheel hitting his chest. 84% on room air. Way too low. Placed on nonrebreather mask at 6 liters; pinks up to about 93%. He wants to use the restroom on room air. Gets told no; while nurse is fetching a urinal for him, his son helps him to the restroom, knowing he was told "no." with an explanation. He skated through that one. Lucky man. He could have stood next to the bed and urinated while on oxygen.
People need to listen at least a little bit to the medical staff. Just because you feel good now doesn't mean that what is shown by xrays and the sensors can be ignored. And, docs need to listen to their patients. If a patient says they feel crappy, there's probably a reason.
You don't know if the nurse was also sick or not. Sounds like you were in the equivalent of a car wreck. This virus is brutal.
yaesu
(8,020 posts)as death rates have been far greater than normal before covid was first reported.
roamer65
(36,747 posts)bamagal62
(3,269 posts)Many of her college friends had something similar before she became ill.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)The symptoms are very similar to COVID-19. I don't think I had COVID-19. Viral bronchitis is extremely common.
OneCrazyDiamond
(2,032 posts)There has been so much bad info on this disease, that I pause with stories like this. Hopefully the WHO will respond with something official.
If true, it would mean a lot more people already had this, and we didn't know. Scary.
Warpy
(111,339 posts)and Chinese tourists were going all over the world.
I think a lot of doctors are wondering about their odder flu patients from late fall.
By the time Dr. Li had warned friends on his WeChat group (and told them not to share the info), other doctors had already reported the strange cases of pneumonia to authorities, and hospitals in Wuhan had already received directives to be on the lookout for a new virus.
Full timeline:
Warpy
(111,339 posts)before this official timeline. The run on toilet paper was something I remarked upon in mid February on another site, I looked it up.
China's internal policies probably saved a lot of lives, although these things have been known to circle back for a second wave the following fall. What they failed to do is clamp down on international travel.
Since one case has been confirmed in France in late December, it might not have done much good, or it might have been the one thing to slow the spread enough for countries that have governments to do some preparation.
It wouldn't have helped much here, we haven't had a functioning government for 3 years.
DVDGuy
(53 posts)We know that the first known case was in Wuhan at the end of November, but with this new case in France, it seems community transmission was already happening there at the end of December in France, possibly earlier than that taking into account the incubation period and the lag between people getting symptoms and feeling sick enough to go to a hospital.
France did not record its first official death from COVID-19 until February 14, and obviously hospitals were not overwhelmed at that point yet. The question is, what accounts for the lag between the first instances of community transmission (mid to late December) and the start of the outbreak proper? There are nearly two whole months where the virus was being transmitted, but it did not raise too many alarms. The flu season most likely made it difficult to spot, but given how contagious the virus is, why didn't more people get it and die from it? It looks like the virus does need a bit of time to take hold.
This news also makes sense given the Wuhan timeline. The WHO did say that it was difficult for Chinese authorities to pick up the new virus due to the flu season, but questions have always remained about the real number of cases and deaths considering the first case happened in November. But if it took 2.5 months (mid-December to March 6) for France to go from a possible first case of community transmission to 600+ cases, then Wuhan, which had 571 cases on January 22 (earliest data available), should (based on the same maths) have had unspotted community transmission 2.5 months earlier, which is in early November. This then makes the first known case at the end of November entirely plausible and also explains why hospitals weren't overrun in December.
Using the same maths, with the US having 704 cases on March 9, then community transmission most likely started in mid to late December as well. Italy went over 600 cases earlier on Feb 27 (655 cases), which means community transmission might have started in early December.
Some countries (with fewer travel links to China/Wuhan) might have gotten lucky, with the chain of infection broken without any intervention, only for subsequent waves to occur when the virus was brought in from other places.
roamer65
(36,747 posts)They tried antibiotics, etc, etc....nothing worked. Symptoms similar to CV.
Very early in the year.
McKim
(2,412 posts)We went to a mountain state to care for our granddaughter who attended a university day care preschool. People were coming and going from China to the university. We came home and were sick for three weeks. No way to tell until antibody tests become available so we are isolating since March 7. Our doctor daughter told us to isolate and wipe down the entire house surfaces every day, including groceries and wear masks outdoors.