(Washington) A genetic analysis published on Tuesday reveals that a single person is undoubtedly at the origin of 148 contaminations aboard the liner Diamond Princess , one of the very first foci of the COVID pandemic – 18, which has become an ideal subject of study and rich in lessons for the global scientific community.
Posted on 28 July 2020 at 14 h 39
France Media Agency
In a study published in the American journal PNAS, a team from the Japanese Institute of Infectious Diseases reports having sequenced the genome of viruses taken from 80 passengers and crew members of the ship, which was quarantined for 07 days by Japanese authorities on 3 February in the port of Yokohama, after a passenger of 40 who had previously disembarked in Hong Kong had been tested positive on 1 st February.
The quarantine saga of more than 3600 passengers and crew had been followed around the world, with Japan being criticized for not having not rather evacuated the boat, while countries including the United States debated the relative risks of repatriating their nationals.
Ultimately, approximately 700 of the 3711 people on board were contaminated by the coronavirus, of which seven died. The study of data drawn from this environment of closed contamination had led to the first estimates of the mortality of the coronavirus (1.2%), and of the proportion of asymptomatic people (18%), and at least thirty studies using the vessel have been carried out since February, according to the covid site 19 primer.com.
The new genetic analysis shows that all the viruses shared the same mutation, which suggests that “the dissemination of SARS-CoV-2 on board the Diamond Princess originates from a single introductory event, before the start of quarantine ”, conclude the Japanese scientists.
The contagions probably started during large gatherings in the common areas, “where the passengers danced, sang, went shopping and attended shows”.
This shows, according to the authors of the study, the interest of genetic surveys to understand the pathway of infections, viruses mutating permanently by replicating, which always makes it possible to reconstruct the equivalent of a family tree and to understand what precautions might have helped reduce contagion.
