2020/10/13

EuroSurveillance - Europe's journal on infectious disease surveillance, epidemiology, prevention and control

"We have previously demonstrated the feasibility of introducing robust detection technology based on real-time RT-PCR in public health laboratories during international health emergencies by coordination between public and academic laboratories [6-12]. In all of these situations, virus isolates were available as the primary substrate for establishing and controlling assays and assay performance"

"In the present case of 2019-nCoV, virus isolates or samples from infected patients have so far not become available to the international public health community"

"We report here on the establishment and validation of a diagnostic workflow for 2019-nCoV screening and specific confirmation, designed in absence of available virus isolates or original patient specimens. Design and validation were enabled by the close genetic relatedness to the 2003 SARS-CoV, and aided by the use of synthetic nucleic acid technology"

So no virus, but plenty of assumptions that we must hope were valid . . .    but what if some, or even only one, of those assumptions was wrong?

With no actual virus isolate, how could we verify that this virus does indeed cause the illness?

Have we not had time or opportunity now to obtain virus isolates and verify that these assumptions were indeed valid? If not, this would be a remarkable dereliction of duty by the W.H.O.