Measles symptoms, but it was Covid: virus found in November 2019 in a 4-year-old boy

Milan, December 9, 2020 – He had measles symptoms and instead it was Covid-19, he just couldn’t imagine yet because it was the first December 2019. A study from the State University of Milan, published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseasese, shows that the SarsCov2 virus has been circulating in Italy since the end of autumn last year. The tampon made to a 4-year-old boy, who had already started to feel unwell with cough and rhinitis on November 21, revealed the presence of the virus at least 3 months earlier than Codogno patient 1.

According to the study, on November 30 the minor was transferred to the emergency room with respiratory symptoms and vomiting and on December 1, measles-like patches appeared on the skin. On December 5, therefore, 14 days after the onset of symptoms, he was administered an oropharyngeal swab for measles, which later analyzed showed that the cause was SarsCov2. “The idea – specifies Silvia Bianchi, one of the researchers – was to retrospectively investigate all cases of exanthematous disease identified in Milan by the measles and rubella surveillance network between September 2019 and February 2020, negative results of laboratory investigations for confirmation of measles “.

In fact, SarsCoV2 can lead to Kawasaki-like syndrome and skin manifestations, common to other viral infections, such as measles. Initial descriptions of these symptoms associated with Covid-19 come from Lombardy dermatologists. That the virus had been circulating for some time was conceivable, the researchers note, given the abrupt and sudden impact of the pandemic and subsequent research, including the detection of the virus in Milan’s sewage in mid-December 2019. The spread unrecognized coronavirus in northern Italy could explain, at least in part, the devastating impact and rapid course of the first wave.