Chinese studies link quarantines with coronavirus mutations that may make it more ‘insidious’
- Wuhan doctors find initial symptoms more prominent in patients seen before January 23 lockdown; separate research identified two competing strains
- As the virus spreads around the world, scientists believe it will continue to evolve
Authorities locked down Wuhan – home to 11 million people – on January 23, confining residents to their homes, halting transport and closing public areas. The drastic measures were later extended to other cities in the province, affecting nearly 60 million people.
Respiratory specialist Zhang Zhan and his colleagues at the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University noticed an unusual trend among patients with Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.
“We found that the initial clinical characteristics of patients admitted after January 23 began to differ from those of patients admitted before, which brought new diagnostic challenges,” the doctors said in a paper submitted on March 2 to SSRN, a website run by The Lancet for research that has not yet been published.
“Some common systemic symptoms of Covid-19 such as fever, fatigue, phlegm and muscle pain were more prominent in patients admitted before January 23, but more insidious in later patients.”