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Researchers from Milan State University found the presence of the virus in the oropharyngeal swab for measles performed on the little patient, who had already suffered from cough and rhinitis since November 21.
By December 2019, the coronavirus had infected a 4-year-old boy, but his symptoms had been mistaken for measles. To indicate this and confirm that Sars-CoV-2 was already circulating in Italy at the end of last year are the results of a new study, carried out by the State University of Milan and published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. The researchers, in fact, found the presence of the virus in the oropharyngeal swab for measles performed on the little patient, who had already suffered from cough and rhinitis since November 21. This is a case that anticipates more than three months that of patient 1 of Codogno.
Conducting the investigation
deepening
Kawasaki disease in children: what it is, symptoms and treatments
On November 30, the child was taken to the emergency room with respiratory symptoms and vomiting. The next day, measles-like spots appeared on her skin. On December 5, 14 days after the first symptoms appeared, the baby underwent an oropharyngeal swab for measles. It is precisely from the analysis of the latter that researchers have discovered the true nature of his disease. According to Silvia Bianchi, one of the study authors, the experts retrospectively investigated all cases of exanthematic disease identified in Milan by the measles and rubella surveillance network between September 2019 and February 2020, negative results in laboratory investigations to confirmation of measles. Sars-CoV-2, in fact, can lead to a Kawasaki-like syndrome and skin manifestations common to other viral infections. Among these is also measles. Initial descriptions of these symptoms associated with Covid-19 were provided by Lombardy dermatologists.
The presence of the coronavirus in Italy
Researchers already suspected that the coronavirus had been circulating in Italy for longer than initially estimated, due to the abrupt and sudden impact of the pandemic and the results of some investigations, including the one that allowed the presence to be detected. of the virus in Milan’s wastewater in mid-December 2019. The prolonged and unrecognized spread of Sars-CoV-2 in northern Italy could explain, at least in part, the devastating impact and rapid course of the first wave.