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A new study based on DNA analysis shows that 245,000 cases of covid-19 can be linked to a biotechnology conference held in Boston, USA in late February.
Write CNN.
Looking for alternatives to Wuhan
The study is published in the renowned journal Science.
In the study, researchers from the Broad Institute in Massachusetts looked at the genetic fingerprints of two coronavirus variants associated with the conference in the US city.
200 participated
About 200 people attended the conference, and the organizer has collaborated with the researchers throughout the study.
The researchers behind the study have named one of the mutations of the virus that links the style of the conference “C2416”, and they believe that only one person who participated in the conference should have brought the variant there, but that ultimately 245,000 people were infected. .
– Reinforced by super dispersion
– One case had an oversized effect on additional transmission because it was amplified by overcasting in a highly mobile population. It happened very early in the outbreak. Before many of the health measures were introduced, the researchers behind the study write.
Study: How to Avoid Super Spreaders
Another variant of the virus, referred to as “G26233T” in the study, links the researchers to 88,000 of the 245,000 virus cases.
According to the study, variants of the virus spread from Boston to at least 18 US states, but also to countries such as Sweden, Slovakia and Australia.
“While Massachusetts represented the earliest outbreak that can be linked to the conference, Florida accounted for the highest proportion of cases overall,” the researchers write.
The conference has already been described as a “super broadcaster,” according to the channel.
Warns about super distribution
This determines who gets the vaccine first.
In the study, the researchers used virus databases that tracked minor changes in the virus.
Now researchers are warning about the consequences of super-distribution.
– We believe this is an important warning about the consequences of over-spread that is even more relevant as we approach the Christmas season, and we run out of vaccines that may not reduce transmission, says one of the researchers behind the study, Bronwyn MacInnis, to the canal.
The researchers emphasize that it is difficult to document a super spreader event because there are so many people involved. CNN writes that it works with the help of genetic fingerprinting.
