![Study shows boy, 4, had COVID in Italy in November 2019. [©Prasesh Shiwakoti (Lomash)/Unsplash]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2020/12/13/660x290/b_502x220x82/study-shows-boy-4-had-covid-in-italy-in-november-2019-photo-by-prasesh-shiwakoti-lomash-on-unsplash_2556816.jpg "Study shows boy, 4, had COVID in Italy in November 2019. [©Prasesh Shiwakoti (Lomash)/Unsplash]")
A new scenario opens at the start of the COVID pandemic in Italy. The case of a child infected with the coronavirus appeared in November 2019, three months before the pandemic officially began in Italy, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's report. Until now, patient one was located in the municipality of Codogno (Lombardy), discovered on January 20, 2020.
The new discovery was made by analyzing the oropharyngeal test of a four-year-old boy who arrived at the Milan emergency room on November 30, 2019, with persistent fever, respiratory symptoms, and vomiting episodes.
The appearance of spots on the child's skin led doctors to perform the test to identify measles. Instead, the analysis of the test on the child a posteriori by the Milanese researchers confirmed that it was COVID-19, a disease still unknown at that time but already beginning to skyrocket in Italy, particularly in Lombardy, weeks before January.
This has been demonstrated by a study by the Milan State University Measles Surveillance Laboratory, coordinated by hygiene professor Elisabetta Tanzi and published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. "It is a result that revolutionizes knowledge about the Spatio-temporal spread of the new Coronavirus," says the study.
First symptoms
The dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the State University of Milan, Gianvincenzo Zuccotti, in charge of making the results public, explained that the child's symptoms began on November 21, 2019: cough and rhinitis were the first symptoms.
Nine days later, he arrived at the emergency room with respiratory symptoms and vomiting. Finally, on December 1, 2020, the measles-like rash forced doctors to perform an oropharyngeal test. After confirming that he suffered from coronavirus, the child is considered from now on as patient 1. It is also noted that he had not been abroad with his parents, so the researchers agree that it was a case of local transmission.
The Milan State University study concludes that before this confirmation of the COVID in the child arrived, the hypothesis had been raised that the virus had been circulating undisturbed for some time, given the abrupt and sudden impact with which it was manifested the pandemic. It should be noted in this regard that it is not the first time that a study has shown the presence of the Sars-Cov-2 virus before January 2020 in Italy.
The most important investigation was carried out by the Higher Institute of Health (ISS), showing that "in the wastewater of Milan and Turin there were already traces of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in December 2019." A discovery that has also been confirmed by other international studies.
China transfers virus origin to Italy
News such as those of the Milan State University study motivates China to press to change the history of the origin of COVID -19, placing the beginnings of the disease outside the Chinese national borders. According to the Italian newspaper "La Repubblica", "China is building a disinformation campaign aimed at further muddying the waters." To do this, Beijing uses some facts and omits others, instrumentalizing studies and statements by foreign scientists to spread its propaganda.
"All to support a hypothesis that is possible in theory," adds La Repubblica, "but that the scientific community considers unreliable to say that the virus was not born in China."
For Beijing, the start date of the epidemic always remains the same: December. Although there is a confidential document, revealed by the media, that shows a case in mid-November. An English investigation, reconstructing the genetic mutations, places the first infection between October and December, most likely in China. The correspondent for the Italian newspaper in Beijing, Filippo Santelli, points out that China transfers the clue to the origin of the virus to Italy, to "dispose of all responsibility in the management of the first phase of the disease."
"The objective of China is not to reach a conclusion or explicitly accuse foreign countries," Santelli concludes.
The latest step in Beijing's strategy was seen just a few days ago when the Chinese nationalist daily "Global Times" published an investigation entitled "Could imported frozen food has triggered the infection in Wuhan?" The official response has been, with quotes from several local scientists: "Evidence is lacking, but it cannot be ruled out."
