Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Italian scientists find Wuhan coronavirus strain match in sample

Italian scientists find Wuhan coronavirus strain match in sample

Discovery made after researchers in Milan review blood tests taken in late 2019 from group of children initially thought to have contracted measles.

Scientists in Italy have identified a sample of the novel coronavirus collected from a young boy late last year that they say is genetically identical to the earliest strain isolated in the Chinese city of Wuhan almost a year ago.

The sample was collected on December 5, 2019 in Milan from a boy who was first thought to have contracted measles, according to the researchers from the University of Milan.

It was a “100 per cent match” of a genome segment of the first Sars-CoV-2 viral strain collected from a seafood market worker in Wuhan on December 26, they said.

“These findings, in agreement with other evidence of early Covid-19 spread in Europe, advance the beginning of the outbreak to late autumn 2019,” said the team led by Professor Elisabetta Tanzi.


The study was published on Wednesday in Emerging Infectious Diseases, a peer-reviewed journal produced by the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The report adds to the argument that the deadly virus might not have originated in China.

Sewage samples collected in Europe and South America before the start of the outbreak have tested positive for the pathogen, while antibodies that bind specifically to the coronavirus were found in blood samples taken from Italian lung cancer patients as early as September last year.

Also, according to the CDC, the start of the 2019 winter flu season was the earliest for more than 15 years.

But much of this evidence has been questioned. The virus found in the sewage, for instance, could not be properly sequenced because it was too badly damaged, while the positive results of the antibody tests provided only indirect proof of the virus’ existence.


The discovery was made by researchers from the University of Milan.


In Milan, Tanzi and her team noticed an increase in patients experiencing symptoms such as fever, cough and skin rashes from September last year onwards. They thought it was a measles outbreak, but tests for that virus all came back negative.

Similar symptoms were later found in children with Covid-19, the first confirmed case of which in Italy was reported on February 21.

When Tanzi retested their samples, all of them came back negative except for one taken from a four-year-old boy who had no history of travelling overseas but was so ill he needed emergency treatment.

The sample not only tested positive, but contained a distinct segment of the Sars-CoV-2 virus gene that matched perfectly with the strain isolated in Wuhan and some other strains that have circulated around the world, Tanzi said.

Unfortunately, the sample did not contain complete viral particles that could be isolated, so its origin could not be determined, the study said.

A research team in Shanghai, meanwhile, has proposed the theory that the first human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus might have happened in the Indian subcontinent last summer. The study, which was submitted to The Lancet last month, was removed recently from the journal’s preprint platform for updating with new data, according to the researchers.

India and Bangladesh had the oldest viral strain with the smallest number of mutations, and the overall genetic diversity of samples collected in the two countries was higher than anywhere else in the world, suggesting the region as the source of outbreak, according to their analysis.

“Our method and conclusions remain sound and solid,” said Dr Shen Libing, lead author of the study with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“Don’t take our words for granted, but take a look at the data. We will release the updated version [of the paper] soon.”


Benjamin Neuman, professor and chair of biological sciences at the University of Texas-Texarkana, said the method used by Tanzi to detect viral genes was “very sensitive”, but that could also lead to false results if the experiment was not well performed.

For instance, although Tanzi was careful to choose a laboratory that had not handled the Sars-CoV-2 virus before, it was unclear if any of her staff had been infected, which could have contaminated the sample.

“I will continue to watch and wait for more compelling evidence,” Neuman said.

Gavin Smith, a professor in the emerging infectious diseases programme at Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore, said the findings might not have an impact on the virus’ origin story, but instead could indicate spread of the virus before it was picked up by disease surveillance, a typical phenomenon in outbreaks of new diseases.

“Assuming that the origin was around Wuhan, then it’s not unreasonable to imagine that there might have been sporadic introductions into northern Italy [as a result of people travelling],” he said.

An epidemiologist in Beijing said that the search for the virus’ origin could face political pressure and even spark racial prejudice in some countries.

But the continuous discoveries by scientists in different countries in recent months showed that “the spirit of seeking the truth has not died”, said the researcher who requested not to be named because of the Chinese government’s media policy.

Additional reporting by Simone McCarthy

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×