Chinanews.com client, Beijing, June 21st Question: Infected by the Meat Union Plant, frozen foods are poisonous... Can we uncover the "new crown mystery" this time?
Reporter Zhang Ni
In June, the northern hemisphere entered the hot summer. When many people believed that the new coronavirus had "disappeared", the epidemic suddenly rebounded. The seafood market has been repeatedly "struck" and the meat joint factories frequently "fallen"... Why are the epidemic related to these places? People are wondering whether there is a more secret transmission chain for viruses?
On June 19, Beijing residents bought pork. China News Agency reporter Jiang Qiming
Why are there always outbreaks in these places?
The latest environmental sampling results of the new development market released by the Beijing Disease Control Department show that there are many positive samples in the comprehensive trading hall, especially the local sales areas of aquatic products and soybean products, and the environmental pollution is heavy.
Another news worth noting is: A week after the case appeared in Beijing, a new local case appeared in Tianjin. The patient has no history of traveling in Beijing. Since May 30, he has been engaged in dishwashing and occasionally cleaned frozen seafood. Ingredients.
Almost at the same time, overseas seafood industry and meat processing factories also exposed multiple incidents of employees collectively infected with the new coronavirus.
A number of seafood factories in the United States have recently experienced a large number of workers infected with the new coronavirus: three seafood workers in the Bristol Bay Area of Alaska tested positive for the new coronavirus; an seafood company in Oregon also experienced an outbreak, with more than 120 employees The virus test was positive.
In South Korea, several employees of the Ministry of Marine and Fisheries in Sejong City have been diagnosed with new coronary pneumonia, and the infection path is not yet clear.
In addition, there is also a recent “China Recruitment” meat joint factory.
In the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and other meat processing companies, one after another, there have been cluster infections, and the number of infections in a German joint meat factory has risen to more than 700.
Coincidentally, when the epidemic broke out in Wuhan at the end of last year, a large number of confirmed cases also appeared in the South China seafood market.
In addition, when a French doctor re-tested the nucleic acid sample of a patient last year, he found that a patient with no history of Chinese travel tested positive for the new coronavirus. This patient is considered to be a French patient "zero", and his identity is a Fishmonger.
At present, the academic community generally believes that fish are almost impossible to become the intermediate host of the new coronavirus in nature. What exactly caused the epidemic to be inextricably linked to seafood and meat products?
According to some previous epidemiological experts, there are two possibilities: contaminated seafood or meat products are transported to the market through the cold chain to cause the spread, or infected people from the infected area cause the spread.
The survey data also shows that the people infected in the new market are relatively concentrated in the aquatic products counter of the beef and mutton hall.
On June 13, the Beijing Xinfadi wholesale market was temporarily closed, and the police carried out traffic control on the surrounding area. China News Service reporter Zhang Yushe
The seafood market may just be a "distribution center" for viruses
Analyzing the environment in which these epidemic outbreaks occur is almost inseparable from the same link-cold chain transportation.
Low temperature is precisely the environment that New Corona virus likes.
According to the "Public Prevention Guidelines for New Coronavirus Infected Pneumonia" issued by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, human coronaviruses are more sensitive to heat, and as the temperature increases, the resistance of human coronaviruses will decline. In a suitable maintenance solution at 4°C, human coronavirus can maintain a moderate stability, and it can be stored for several years in an environment of -60°C.
In China, -18℃ is the national standard recommended for frozen logistics and the recommended storage temperature for quick-frozen food and frozen beverages. Some experts believe that the virus's "no fear of cold" feature explains why the virus has been found several times in the seafood market with more refrigerated foods.
WHO officials revealed on the 19th that the gene sequence of the new coronavirus appeared in Beijing has been uploaded and shared, showing that it is closely related to the new European coronavirus strain. "There are currently different virus strains spreading, which does not mean that the disease is from Europe, but it is very likely that the virus was imported from outside Beijing."
On the other hand, the epidemic situation has clustered infections in farmers' markets and meat processing plants, which is also inextricably linked to its own working environment.
"American meat processing plants and some food plants have become hotbeds of viruses. This is because the assembly line process prevents workers from maintaining social distance. To ensure normal processing capacity during the epidemic, workers can only take the sick to work." School of Food Science, China Agricultural University Associate professor Zhu Yi analyzed during an interview with a reporter from ChinaNews.com.
She emphasized that the outbreak began in the food market, suggesting that the risk is the greatest in the food processing industry. The risks of catching, storing and transporting, trading, slaughtering, washing, cooking, etc. before the entrance are the risks.
Similarly, merchants working in farmers’ markets face similar problems—when workers touch contaminated products and rub their noses and rub their eyes, they will become infected. The dense flow of people in the market has accelerated the spread of the epidemic.
Wu Guizhen, chief expert in biosecurity at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Secretary of the Party Committee of the Viral Disease Institute, once analyzed that this epidemic rebounded in Beijing and was also concentrated in the wholesale market. However, unlike the South China seafood market in Wuhan, the possibility of wild animals causing the epidemic in Beijing is very likely. small.
This leaves us with an important reminder: Is it possible that the source of transmission is an infected person or contaminated food, and the environment of the seafood market has created an opportunity for rapid transmission.
In this way, places like the seafood market may be just a huge virus "transit hub".
On June 17, inspectors from key areas and key populations in the Beijing Xinfadi market received new Pneumococcal virus nucleic acid tests at Fangzhuang Sports Park in Fengtai District. Photo by Jia Tianyong, China News Agency reporter
"Mystery of the New Crown" is still confusing
Although this epidemic in Beijing has made people's nerves tense again, to some extent, it has also made people's understanding of the virus a step further.
In response to the outbreak in the new development area, scientists have recently analyzed a variety of possible transmission routes: the virus is lurking in imported frozen food, and no evolution has occurred due to freezing; the virus is in a dark and humid environment such as the agricultural production market in the new development area Latently, without being disinfected, sterilized, and suddenly exposed to infected people within a certain period of time, resulting in slower evolution, and so on.
The virus transmission path is a rigorous and complex scientific process, and one cannot make a conclusive conclusion. However, the new site is already reminding people: even if the virus trajectory is still confusing, but the prevention and control network must be prepared.
After the outbreak of the new market in Beijing, the agricultural product market became a new target for epidemic prevention and control around the country almost overnight. Large-scale investigations were quickly launched, nucleic acid testing of market practitioners, and sampling of the market environment were screened. check.
At the same time, "foreign defense input" must not only guard people, but also focus on the goods.
In response to the recent cluster infections in Beijing, the General Administration of Customs has deployed the national customs to the fresh cold chain products from high-risk countries or regions, such as aquatic products, meat, frozen vegetables, aquatic animals, short-term or low-temperature transportation Risk monitoring of new coronavirus was carried out on imported products such as industrial products.
In addition, since June 17, China Customs has also suspended the export of products from a German pork slaughtering and division and refrigeration company.
For individuals, although there is no evidence of infection through the consumption of food (including seafood products), the Chinese Center for Disease Control has recommended that, in order to reduce the possible risks, people try not to touch raw fish and meat when buying food.
The concealment of New Crown Virus hiding and the tenacity of vitality continue to exceed people's existing understanding. For humans, understanding the "new crown" may be destined to be a headwind. (Finish)