COVID SCIENCE UPDATE

New coronavirus may have reached the US last December; Lingering pain after COVID-19 may be nerve injuries

The new coronavirus may have been circulating in the United States last December, well before the first COVID-19 case was diagnosed on Jan. 19, a new analysis of donated blood reveals.

Researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked for COVID-19 antibodies in archived samples of blood donations collected by the American Red Cross from Dec. 13, 2019 to Jan. 17 from non-identifiable donors in nine states (California, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin).

Of the 7,389 blood donors, 106 had antibodies specific to the new virus. There were samples found with COVID-19 antibodies from all nine states, according to a report of the study published on Tuesday in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

The findings suggest the virus may have been present in western states as early as Dec. 13 and in eastern states as early as Dec. 30, according to a press statement from Dr. Susan Stramer, vice president of Scientific Affairs at the American Red Cross.

It is not possible from these findings to determine whether these potential early COVID-19 infections were due to community spread or were travel related, she said.

Lingering pain after COVID-19 may be nerve injuries

Patients with lingering pain after COVID-19 may have nerve injuries, according to a report published on Tuesday in Radiology.

The researchers said lingering pain in COVID-19 survivors can be due to nerve dysfunction caused by the virus itself or it may be a side effect of treatment received in the hospital.

These could include nerve issues arising from being positioned in a way that helped the lungs recover but put pressure on other body parts, or from pressure on a nerve from blood that pooled after blood clot prevention.

High-tech imaging methods like magnetic resonance and ultra high-resolution ultrasound can help identify the location and extent of nerve damage, the researchers found when they reviewed earlier study reports.

"Clinicians should (suspect nerve injury) in COVID patients who are left with chronic pain and weakness, particularly since early diagnosis and appropriate treatment is crucial to prevent irreversible damage," coauthor Dr. Swati Deshmukh of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois told Reuters.

During the pandemic, Deshmukh added, when patients come in with unexplained new nerve and muscle symptoms, doctors should consider testing them for COVID-19. -- Reuters