Xinhua news agency, Washington, December 1 (reporter Tan Jingjing) - researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and prevention of the United States recently found that antibodies against new coronavirus existed in some blood donation samples of Americans in December last year, which means that the new coronavirus may have appeared in the United States at that time, earlier than the time when the first confirmed case of new coronavirus was officially reported in the United States.
The study, published in the semimonthly issue of clinical infectious diseases on November 30, said researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and prevention of the United States tested 7389 blood samples collected by the American Red Cross between December 13 and January 17, in order to determine whether antibodies to the new coronavirus were present in humans before the first confirmed case in the United States. The samples were from blood donors in nine states across the United States.
The detection results showed that 106 blood samples contained antibodies against the new coronavirus, among which 39 samples were from California, Oregon and Washington state, collected from December 13 to December 16 last year; 67 samples were collected from Massachusetts, Michigan and other places from December 30 last year to January 17 this year.
The Centers for Disease Control and prevention of the United States reported the first confirmed case of a new crown in the country on January 21 this year. The study said that the test results showed that there may have been individual cases of new coronavirus infection in some parts of the United States in December last year, and it is also possible that a small number of people already have antibodies that can bind to the new coronavirus.
Previous studies in the United States suggested that the new coronavirus may have spread in Los Angeles before the first confirmed case of new coronavirus was officially reported in the United States.