The infections occurred weeks before the first reported cases of COVID-19 in the United States, NIH study finds

Researchers detected antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in blood samples taken weeks before the first cases reported in several U.S. states – further evidence that the new coronavirus was spreading sooner than previously thought. ‘origin.

Positive specimens were from seven people in Illinois, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and were collected as early as January 7, suggesting transmission was occurring “in states far from the original hot spots. “researchers reported today in Clinical infectious diseases.

This was one of the first studies to use data from the NIH All of us Research Program, “a national effort that aims to create one of the largest and most diverse databases of health information that researchers can use for broad discoveries, including emerging diseases like COVID- 19 “said Sheri RE. Schully, doctorate, the program’s acting medical and scientific director.

“Although our dataset was not configured to specifically study COVID-19, we were able to take advantage of our scale and diversity, multiple types of data, biological samples, and longitudinal design to better understand the first days of the American epidemic“Schully told Healio.

Sheri RE. Schully

Schully and his colleagues analyzed more than 24,000 stored blood samples provided by participants in the 50-state program between January 2 and March 18, 2020. According to the study, the researchers detected antibodies against SARS-CoV- 2 using two different serological tests – the Abbott Architect SARS-CoV-2 IgG ELISA and the EUROIMMUN SARS-CoV-2 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) – in nine samples from participants outside of “urban hot spots” from Seattle and New York, which researchers believed to be key entry points for the virus into the United States

Seven of the nine specimens were collected on Jan. 7 in Illinois, Jan. 8 in Massachusetts, Feb. 3 in Wisconsin, Feb. 15 in Pennsylvania, and March 6 in Mississippi – before the first confirmed cases in those states. .

“It’s important that even if you think you had COVID-19 in those early days of 2020 – and our research shows it was present in the United States earlier than we initially thought – you should still be vaccinate, ”said Schully. “In addition, we believe this illustrates the value of longitudinal studies as All of us add to address emerging public health questions and the need to build the data infrastructure that brings together participants and researchers to improve the health of future generations.

Schully explained that these types of studies are important because they can help detect infections generally, including in people who may have had no symptoms or mild symptoms and never been tested.

“There is still so much that we don’t know about the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in the United States, but it adds another piece to the puzzle and may help inform public health surveillance testing strategies, patterns of entry of the new virus into susceptible populations, and subsequent intervention and mitigation efforts. for future epidemics, ”said Schully

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