Swabs from Australia’s first reported case of coronavirus are integral to the Doherty Institute’s bid to develop a vaccine. Picture: AAP
Details of Australia’s first reported case of the coronavirus have emerged, with researchers from the Doherty Institute revealing that a 58-year-old man visiting Melbourne from China had been central to it’s bid to develop a vaccine against the illness.
The man, who arrived from Wuhan, where the virus is thought to have originated, on January 19, was the first person to test positive to COVID-19 in Australia, with a swab taken on his presentation to hospital used by the institute to isolate, grow and share the virus — the first lab outside of China to do so.
A paper published in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday reveals that the man, who has not been identified, attended the hospital’s emergency department on January 24 with symptoms of fever, cough and progressive shortness of breath.
Read Next
“A 58-year-old male from Wuhan, China felt unwell on the day of arrival in Melbourne, Australia. He had no contact with live food markets, known cases of COVID-19 or hospitals,” according to the paper, authored by Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity deputy director Mike Catton and colleagues.
“His past medical history included Type 2 diabetes mellitus, and he ceased smoking four years previously.
“He developed fever on the 20th January 2020, a cough with sputum production on the 23rd January 2020, and was admitted to hospital via the emergency department on 24th January 2020 with progressive dyspnea [shortness of breath].
“Examination revealed a temperature of 38.1°C, heart rate 95 beats/min and [oxygen] saturation 94% on room air.”
According to the paper, clinical features of the man’s case were in keeping with other emerging reports worldwide. He was treated with intravenous ceftriaxone and azithromycin on his fourth day of admission for possible secondary bacterial pneumonia, while low-flow oxygen was administered until day 10.
“He made gradual clinical improvement, with resolution of fever, productive cough and [breathing difficulties] by day 12 of admission, and was discharged from hospitals on the 7th of February,” it says. It is not known whether the man remains in Australia or whether he was returned to China.
The rapid diagnosis of Australia’s first confirmed case of COVID-19 — and the subsequent imaging and sharing of the virus — has attracted significant interest from the medical community.
Dr Catton said that the initial swab take from the patient came back positive for COVID-19 at 5pm on the day of his admission. Staff at the lab worked late into the evening to confirm the initial positive test. Researchers were then able to take material from the initial nasopharyngeal swab to isolate the agent that causes COVID-19, SARS CoV2.
Within 24 hours of isolation, the first Australian viral isolate of SARS-C0V-2 was able to be shared with domestic and international reference laboratories and major North American and European culture collections.
Dr Catton said that although events had moved on, and other labs had also been able to grow and share the virus, having fresh cells ready was integral to developing medicines, tests and vaccines to fight the spread of disease.
He said the development of an antibody test, which would enable people who are asymptomatic to be tested to find out of they had contracted COVID-19, was crucial to better understanding the illness.
“Deaths are easy to count and while something might look to be terribly fatal virus, there might also be large numbers of people who don’t present for medical treatment or testing because their symptoms might only be mild,” he said.
Dr Catton said the bid to develop a vaccine, which has attracted a $3.2 million donation from Chinese mogul Jack Ma, was progressing well.
“There’s a couple of different groups working on it,” he said.
“It’s a long way off having something to use but positive strides are being made.”
chart weekly, page-838
-
- There are more pages in this discussion • 928 more messages in this thread...
You’re viewing a single post only. To view the entire thread just sign in or Join Now (FREE)
