'Patient zero' traced to Nov
意“零号病人”前年底感染
An Italian was found to have been infected with COVID-19 in November 2019, making her "patient zero" of the coronavirus outbreak in Italy.
意大利米兰大学的研究人员从该国一名25岁女性患者的皮肤活检样本中发现了新冠病毒基因序列。
Researchers at the University of Milan revealed that a skin biopsy on a 25-year-old woman showed the presence of the coronavirus in Italy in November 2019.
这一结果将意大利“零号病人”出现时间再次提前到2019年11月。
The woman was affected by an atypical dermatitis, and a biopsy on her skin highlighted the presence of the novel coronavirus.
这名患者感染了一种非典型性皮炎,其皮肤的活检组织中存在新冠病毒。
This is "the oldest evidence of the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in a human being", the report said.
研究报告称,这是“目前发现的最早人类感染新冠病毒病例。”
An earlier study by Italian scientists had detected the virus in a 4-year-old boy's throat secretions, following a swab test conducted in early December 2019.
意大利科学家此前在一项研究中发现,2019年12月初一名4岁男孩咽拭子样本中存在新冠病毒。
A separate Italian study last year suggested that the coronavirus may have been circulating in the country as early as September 2019.
2019年意大利的另一项独立研究表明,新冠病毒可能早在2019年9月就在该国传播。
Infections are surging around the world, with more than 90.9 million confirmed cases and 1.94 million deaths by Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University.
据约翰斯·霍普金斯大学的数据,全球新冠肺炎感染病例正在激增,截至1月12日,确诊病例超过9090万例,死亡病例达194万例。