Causal associations between type 1 diabetes and COVID-19 infection and prognosis: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study.

INTRODUCTION: It has been suggested that type 1 diabetes was associated with increased COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. However, their causal relationship is still unclear. Herein, we performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) to investigate the causal effect of type 1 diabetes on COVID-19 infection and prognosis. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The summary statistics of type 1 diabetes were obtained from two published genome-wide association studies of European population, one as a discovery sample including 15 573 cases and 158 408 controls, and the other data as a replication sample consisting of 5913 cases and 8828 controls. We first performed a two-sample MR analysis to evaluate the causal effect of type 1 diabetes on COVID-19 infection and prognosis. Then, reverse MR analysis was conducted to determine whether reverse causality exists. RESULTS: MR analysis results showed that the genetically predicted type 1 diabetes was associated with higher risk of severe COVID-19 (OR=1.073, 95% CI: 1.034 to 1.114, pFDR=1.15×10-3) and COVID-19 death (OR=1.075, 95% CI: 1.033 to 1.119, pFDR=1.15×10-3). Analysis of replication dataset showed similar results, namely a positive association between type 1 diabetes and severe COVID-19 (OR=1.055, 95% CI: 1.029 to 1.081, pFDR=1.59×10-4), and a positively correlated association with COVID-19 death (OR=1.053, 95% CI: 1.026 to 1.081, pFDR=3.50×10-4). No causal association was observed between type 1 diabetes and COVID-19 positive, hospitalized COVID-19, the time to the end of COVID-19 symptoms in the colchicine treatment group and placebo treatment group. Reverse MR analysis showed no reverse causality. CONCLUSIONS: Type 1 diabetes had a causal effect on severe COVID-19 and death after COVID-19 infection. Further mechanistic studies are needed to explore the relationship between type 1 diabetes and COVID-19 infection and prognosis.

Trends in elder abuse and age discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong: Findings from a two-wave representative telephone survey study.

OBJECTIVES: Empirical evidence about the heightened risks of elder abuse and age discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic is scarce. This study aimed to track the changes in rates of both, and investigated their associated factors in the community-dwelling older population in Hong Kong. METHODS: In this two-wave, cross-sectional telephone survey, we interviewed a population-based sample of individuals (≥55 years), and captured the situation of elder abuse and age discrimination before the COVID-19 outbreak (n = 1209, Wave 1: October-December 2019) and during the pandemic (n = 891, Wave 2: December 2020-January 2021). Participants reported their experiences of different types of abuse and discrimination, financial health, subjective well-being, satisfaction with environment, health and social services, and resilience. RESULTS: Abuse was reported by 20.2% of the sample before the outbreak and 17.8% during the pandemic; while discrimination was reported by 24.6% and 29.8% at the two time points, respectively. A drop in physical abuse was observed, but it was accompanied by a rise in discrimination in the form of harassment or refusal of services. Findings of logistic regression analysis show that abuse during the pandemic was associated with younger age, poorer subjective well-being, and lower resilience; while discrimination was associated with female gender, being married, and poorer subjective well-being. CONCLUSIONS: Elder abuse and discrimination were prevalent across time points. The pandemic has highlighted the marginalization of older persons in our communities. There is an urgent need for development of effective interventions to end abuse and discrimination.

Apatinib combined with camrelizumab in advanced acral melanoma patients: An open-label, single-arm phase 2 trial.

BACKGROUND: At present, immune monotherapy and combination therapy has not shown satisfactory effects on acral melanoma, and still no standard treatment is available for advanced acral melanoma. Here, a phase II trial was performed to explore the safety and efficacy of apatinib combined with camrelizumab in advanced acral melanoma patients as first-line therapy (NCT03955354). METHODS: Patients with pathologically confirmed, locally unresectable or metastatic treatment native acral melanoma received 250 mg apatinib once daily and camrelizumab 200 mg once every two weeks intravenously every 28-day cycle. The primary end-point was objective response rate and the secondary end-points were disease control rate, overall survival, progression-free survival and safety. RESULTS: Thirty patients were recruited between January 2015 and January 2022. Among them, 21 (70.0%) had stage IV, and a median tumour burden was 50 mm (range: 11-187). Objective response rate was 24.1%, and 7 of 29 patients had an anti-tumour response, including partial response (n = 5) and complete response (n = 2). Disease control rate was 82.8%, median progression-free survival was 7.39 months (confidence interval: 3.65-9.92), and median overall survival was 13.4 months (confidence interval: 1.9-25.0). Grade 3-4 treatment-related toxicity (grade 3 50.5%; grade 4 3.3%) included transaminase elevations, proteinuria, leukocytopenia, vomiting, diarrhea and drug-induced liver injury. No treatment-related mortality occurred. The mutations of TTN, MUC16, VPS13D, ALPK2 and SCUBE1 showed significant alterations with survival outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Apatinib combined with camrelizumab showed manageable safety profile and reasonable anti-tumour activity in advanced acral melanoma patients as first-line therapy.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on acute pancreatitis presentations, management, and in-hospital outcomes: a single-center, retrospective observational study from the northeast of China.

Background: Since initially detected in late December 2019, the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak rapidly swept the world, which has profoundly affected healthcare system and clinical practice in the management of gastrointestinal diseases. Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the pattern of hospital admissions and healthcare services for acute pancreatitis (AP). Design: We conducted a retrospective observational cohort study using the anonymized electronic medical records. Methods: This single-center, retrospective observational study from a regional medical center in the northeast of China included all consecutively admitted patients with AP from 23 January to 10 June 2020 (during the COVID-19 outbreak in Harbin), compared with the equivalent period of the previous year, in terms of demographics, clinical characteristics, and in-hospital outcomes. Results: In this article, we observed a reduction in AP admissions after the beginning of COVID-19 outbreak. With the prolonged time from symptom onset to hospitalization [32.0 (22.0-72.0) versus 18.0 (12.0-24.0) h; p < 0.001], a higher proportion of AP patients developed acute renal failure (14.0% versus 7.4%, p = 0.004) and acute necrotic collection (16.5% versus 11.2%; p = 0.038) in the COVID-19 era. The percentage of alcohol etiology significantly decreased after the implementation of social restriction measures (11.5% versus 20.4%; p = 0.002), whereas biliary etiology was numerically more common amidst the COVID-19 era (41.6% versus 32.6%; p = 0.014). No significant differences were found in the rates of intensive care unit admission and mortality between the two groups. Conclusion: This study preliminarily demonstrated the descending trend and delay in hospital presentations for AP during the outbreak of COVID-19. Given that the pandemic may persist for several years, adjustments of medical services according to the varying degrees of local breakouts are imperative to provide appropriate care for AP patients and diminish the risk of viral transmission. Registration: ClincialTrials.gov number ChiCTR2100043350.

Impact of social support on college students' anxiety due to COVID-19 isolation: Mediating roles of perceived risk and resilience in the postpandemic period

Introduction Because of the outbreak of COVID-19, several colleges and universities in Xi'an, China, implemented quarantine measures and closed their gates, which increased anxiety among the students. Methods The Perceived Social Support Scale, Perceived Risk of COVID-19 Pandemic Scale, Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale, and Self-Rating Anxiety Scale were used for measurements. SPSS26 and AMOS26 (IBM SPSS AMOS Statistics, New York, United States) were used for data analysis. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the data from the 2,251 respondents and the hypothetical model. Results The students' perceived social support was discovered to have had a significant negative effect on anxiety. The students' perceived COVID-19 risk and resilience played significant mediating roles in the relationship between social support and anxiety. Discussion When college students feel social support and have resilience, they can reduce anxiety during the epidemic stage. Therefore, education administrators and parents should help college students to identify the current situation of the epidemic environment, enrich relevant knowledge.

Fuzzy Neural Network for the Online Course Quality Assessment System

Under the influence of COVID-19, online office and online education has ushered in a golden period of development. The teaching quality of online education has been a controversial issue. Our study takes online course teaching quality assessment as the starting point, explores the influencing factors of online course quality assessment with online courses as the research object, and analyzes the latest research proposal for an online course quality index. To make the online course quality assessment more intelligent, we propose an online course quality assessment method based on a fuzzy neural network. The method uses fuzzy rules as the baseline and adds a TSK perception mechanism to expand the perception domain of the fuzzy neural network and improve the course quality index prediction accuracy. At the input side of the fuzzy neural network, we preclassify the online course data into four parts, and each part of the data represents a different assessment domain. Due to the large data cost, we expanded the collective amount of data using data augmentation methods. In addition, we parse the structure of the fuzzy neural network hierarchy and introduce the construction and role of the TSK perception mechanism in the fuzzy rules. An optimal learning strategy is proposed in the fuzzy neural network training. Finally, in the experimental session, we verify the effectiveness of data augmentation and explore the distribution of course quality assessment weights. In the comparison of the model prediction results with the actual assessment results, our method achieves an excellent matching rate, which proves the high efficiency of our method in the online course quality assessment system. [ FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of relationship between aging and contaminant-carryover for different filter layer of surgical mask under urban environmental stressors

Abundant disposable surgical masks (SMs) remain in the environment and continue to age under urban environmental stressors. This study aimed to investigate the aging characteristics of SMs and the effect of different aged layers of SMs on phenanthrene (PHE), tylosin (TYL), and sulfamethazine (SMT) under two different urban environmental stressors (UV and ozone). The results show that UV exposure causes more severe aging of the SM layers than ozone. The middle layer, made of melt-brown fabric, has displayed the highest degree of aging due to its smaller diameter and mechanical strength. The two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS) analysis reveals the different aging sequences of functional groups and three layers in aged SMs under the two urban environmental stressors. Whether the SMs are aged or not, the adsorptions of three organic pollutants on SMs are positively correlated with the octanol-water partition coefficient. Furthermore, except for the dominant hydrophobic interaction, aged SMs can promote the adsorption of three organic pollutants by accessory interactions (hydrogen bonding and partition), depending on their structures. These findings highlight the environmental effects of new microplastic (MP) sources and coexisting pollutants under the influence of COVID-19, which is helpful in accurately evaluating the biological toxicity of SMs.

Research progress of origin traceability technology for food and drug homologous products

The idea of 'food and drug homology' plays a very important role in Chinese history. Especially, in the COVID-19 epidemic situation, 'food and drug homology' products improved health as medicated diet, thus promoting traditional Chinese drugs industry becomingmoreinternational. However, the quality of food and drug homology products were uneven, intermingled quality products and fake ones happen occasionally. In recent years, traceability technology for food and drug homologous products has gradually become a research hotspot due to the complex and diverse means of adulteration of food and drug homologous products. The aim of the development of origin traceability technology is to protect the 'genuineness' and 'distinctiveness' of food and drug homologous products. At the same time, it protects the rights and interests of consumersand protects the authenticity of food and drug homologous products and the healthy development of the food and drug homologous industry. Based on the basic data of journals and master's and doctoral dissertations collected from CNKI, Web of Sciences and Pud Med till June 2021, this paper analyzed the development trend of traceability technology in the application of global food and drug homologous products. The source, classification, origin traceability technology and application progress in food and drug homologous products were summarized in order to provide a theoretical basis for future research on origin traceability technology for food and drug homologous products.

Posttraumatic stress disorder and depression of Chinese medical staff after 2 years of COVID-19: A multicenter study.

BACKGROUND: In December 2019, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was first reported in Wuhan, China, and has had a negative psychological impact on the medical staff. However, the long-term psychological effects of COVID-19 were still unclear. We aimed to assess the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression among medical staff 2 years after COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, China. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter study in five general hospitals in Wuhan, China. PTSD was assessed using the PTSD Checklist-5. Depression was measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Multivariate adjusted logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association among demographic variables, depressive indicators, and PTSD. RESULTS: In a sample of 1795 medical staff, 295 (16.40%) participants reported PTSD and 329 (18.30%) reported depression. After multivariate adjusted logistic regression analyses, participants involved in COVID-19 clinical work, unsafe working environment, poor doctor-patient relationship, unhealth status, work dissatisfaction, and low family support were at a high risk for PTSD and depression 2 years after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: Although it has been more than 2 years after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, the mental health of medical staff remains a concern. In particular, medical staff involved in the clinical care of COVID-19 patients showed a higher risk of PTSD and depression 2 years after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study may provide some useful suggestions for psychological interventions for medical staff.

The emerging role of furin in neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases.

Furin is an important mammalian proprotein convertase that catalyzes the proteolytic maturation of a variety of prohormones and proproteins in the secretory pathway. In the brain, the substrates of furin include the proproteins of growth factors, receptors and enzymes. Emerging evidence, such as reduced FURIN mRNA expression in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients or schizophrenia patients, has implicated a crucial role of furin in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases. Currently, compared to cancer and infectious diseases, the aberrant expression of furin and its pharmaceutical potentials in neurological diseases remain poorly understood. In this article, we provide an overview on the physiological roles of furin and its substrates in the brain, summarize the deregulation of furin expression and its effects in neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders, and discuss the implications and current approaches that target furin for therapeutic interventions. This review may expedite future studies to clarify the molecular mechanisms of furin deregulation and involvement in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases, and to develop new diagnosis and treatment strategies for these diseases.

XAF1 Protects Host against Emerging RNA Viruses by Stabilizing IRF1-Dependent Antiviral Immunity.

XIAP-associated factor 1 (XAF1) is an interferon (IFN)-stimulated gene (ISG) that enhances IFN-induced apoptosis. However, it is unexplored whether XAF1 is essential for the host fighting against invaded viruses. Here, we find that XAF1 is significantly upregulated in the host cells infected with emerging RNA viruses, including influenza, Zika virus (ZIKV), and SARS-CoV-2. IFN regulatory factor 1 (IRF1), a key transcription factor in immune cells, determines the induction of XAF1 during antiviral immunity. Ectopic expression of XAF1 protects host cells against various RNA viruses independent of apoptosis. Knockout of XAF1 attenuates host antiviral innate immunity in vitro and in vivo, which leads to more severe lung injuries and higher mortality in the influenza infection mouse model. XAF1 stabilizes IRF1 protein by antagonizing the CHIP-mediated degradation of IRF1, thus inducing more antiviral IRF1 target genes, including DDX58, DDX60, MX1, and OAS2. Our study has described a protective role of XAF1 in the host antiviral innate immunity against RNA viruses. We have also elucidated the molecular mechanism that IRF1 and XAF1 form a positive feedback loop to induce rapid and robust antiviral immunity. IMPORTANCE Rapid and robust induction of antiviral genes is essential for the host to clear the invaded viruses. In addition to the IRF3/7-IFN-I-STAT1 signaling axis, the XAF1-IRF1 positive feedback loop synergistically or independently drives the transcription of antiviral genes. Moreover, XAF1 is a sensitive and reliable gene that positively correlates with the viral infection, suggesting that XAF1 is a potential diagnostic marker for viral infectious diseases. In addition to the antitumor role, our study has shown that XAF1 is essential for antiviral immunity. XAF1 is not only a proapoptotic ISG, but it also stabilizes the master transcription factor IRF1 to induce antiviral genes. IRF1 directly binds to the IRF-Es of its target gene promoters and drives their transcriptions, which suggests a unique role of the XAF1-IRF1 loop in antiviral innate immunity, particularly in the host defect of IFN-I signaling such as invertebrates.

Burnout Among Medical Staff 1 Year After the Beginning of the Major Public Health Emergency in Wuhan, China

Objectives Wuhan is the city where coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was first reported and developed into a pandemic. However, the impact of the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic on medical staff burnout remains limited. We aimed to identify the prevalence and major determinants of burnout among medical staff 1 year after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, China. Materials and Methods A total of 1,602 medical staff from three hospitals in Wuhan, China, were included from November 1–28, 2021. Chi-square tests were conducted to compare the prevalence of burnout across groups based on sociodemographic and professional characteristics. A multivariate analysis was performed using a forward stepwise logistic regression model. Results Approximately 37.39% of the medical staff experienced burnout 1 year after COVID-19 pandemic. Emotional exhaustion (EE) was the most common symptom of burnout, with 1,422 (88.76%) participants reporting a severe EE. Burnout was associated with insufficient social support and “neutral” or “dissatisfied” patient-physician relationships. Respondents who participated in the care of COVID-19 patients had a higher risk of burnout symptoms than those who did not participate. In particular, mental resilience was negatively associated with burnout among the medical staff. Conclusion Nearly two-fifths of the participants had symptoms of burnout, with reduced personal accomplishment being the predominant symptom 1 year after COVID-19. Healthcare organizations should regularly measure and monitor burnout among the medical staff. In addition, creating positive work environments and improving the mental resilience of medical staff may be effective ways to reduce burnout.

Construction of a competency evaluation index system for front-line nurses during the outbreak of major infectious diseases: A Delphi study.

INTRODUCTION: As the frequency of infectious diseases rises, it's more important than ever to pay attention to the competency level of front-line nurses as the primary force in front-line rescue, which has an impact on the quality of anti-epidemic response. This paper aims to construct the competency evaluation index system for front-line nurses during the outbreak of major infectious diseases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study combined literature review, critical incident technique interviews, and semi-structured in-depth interviews, as well as two rounds of Delphi expert correspondence, to construct a competence evaluation index system for front-line nurses during the outbreak of major infectious diseases. The study used purposive sampling to select 26 experts from 11 provinces and cities across China to conduct two rounds of Delphi expert consultation, and the indicators were selected based on the mean importance score > 3.5 and the coefficient of variation < 0.25, and the weights of the indicators were calculated by the Analytic Hierarchy Process. The effective recovery rates of the two rounds of correspondence questionnaires were 93.1% and 96%. RESULTS: The effective recovery rates of the two rounds of correspondence questionnaires were 93.1% and 96%, the authority coefficients of experts were 0.96 and 0.98, the Kendall's coordination coefficients of the first, second, and third level indexes were 0.281, 0.132, and 0.285 (P < 0.001), 0.259, 0.158, and 0.415 (P < 0.001). The final index system includes 4 primary indicators (Knowledge System of Infectious Diseases, Nursing Skills for Infectious Diseases, Related Professional Abilities for Infectious Diseases, and Comprehensive Quality), 10 secondary indicators, and 64 tertiary indicators. CONCLUSION: The competency evaluation index system of front-line nurses during the outbreak of major infectious diseases is scientific, reasonable, and practical, which can provide a scientific basis for nursing managers to accurately understand, describe, analyze, and evaluate the competence level of nursing staff and scientifically implement the allocation of human resources in the future, as well as serve as a content framework for subsequent training programs.

Abuse and Discrimination Experienced by Older Women in the Era of COVID-19: A Two-Wave Representative Community Survey in Hong Kong.

Although there is a growing volume of research on violence against women, violence against older women has received little attention to date. Little is known about the experience of elder abuse, discrimination, loneliness, and health among older women, in particular in the era of COVID-19 when our lives have been changed drastically. Using two waves of survey data (N = 1,498), this study compared the estimates of elder abuse and age discrimination before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, examined their associations with physical and mental health, and explored the mediating effects of loneliness on the associations in two independent samples of older women in Hong Kong. Reductions in some forms of abuse and discrimination against older women during the pandemic were observed. Findings from regression analyses show that elder abuse and age discrimination were associated with poorer health, and these associations were mediated by loneliness.

Development of a career questionnaire for medical undergraduates using Mokken scale analysis.

BACKGROUND: Individual-centred career questionnaires are important for understanding the motivations of medical students. This study aimed to collect validity evidence of a questionnaire to measure the career choice of medical undergraduates. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was sent to third-year undergraduate students at a Chinese university-affiliated hospital. The questionnaire was formed using items that were selected after a systematic literature review. Item reduction was conducted using Mokken scale analysis, followed by reliability and validity testing, which described the validity evidence of the content, response process and internal structure. RESULTS: The preliminary 20-item questionnaire was returned by 213 undergraduate students (response rate: 86.59%). To construct a monotone homogeneity model, 6 items were removed after testing for unidimensionality, local independence, and latent monotonicity according to the sequence. The final questionnaire included 14 items in two subscales: a 10-item 'career advantage' subscale and a 4-item 'career disadvantage' subscale. The questionnaire was judged to be acceptably reliable (Molenaar-Sijtsma method: 0.87 and 0.75, Cronbach's alpha: 0.87 and 0.74) and to have good construct validity (χ2/df: 1.748, normed fit index: > 0.9, comparative fit index: > 0.9, root mean square error of approximation: 0.05-0.08). Male and female undergraduates had different responses regarding their salary, subspecialty, career prospects, and ability to serve their relatives. Male undergraduates might be more willing to accept on-call positions and have subspecialties with greater likelihoods of patient-physician conflict. CONCLUSION: We used Mokken scale analysis to develop and collect evidence of the validity of a 14-item questionnaire regarding career preferences among Chinese medical undergraduate students. This short and simple questionnaire may provide a suitable tool for exploring insights regarding the motivations of Chinese medical students.

Future Eldercare Planning Among Chinese Aging Families in Hong Kong

Increasing attention has been paid to the potential role of care planning in buffering future eldercare challenges. However, little is known about the characteristics of care planning among Chinese ageing families. It is also of interest to reflect how recent events such as COVID-19 pandemic may affect their views of the future care planning. From a family systems perspective, this study explored the extent, processes, and contents of intergenerational care planning of Chinese ageing families in Hong Kong. Dyadic interviews were conducted with 60 adult child-older parent pairs, and individual interviews were conducted with another 33 adult children. Intergenerational discrepancies in extent and processes of care planning, intergenerational congruence of care expectations and struggles, facilitating role of family capital and hindering role of cultural capital in care planning were primary themes. Although both generations demonstrated strong awareness of future eldercare needs, they were found engaged in different levels and processes of care planning. Adult children’s level of engagement in planning activities may influence parents’ extent and contents of care planning. Intergenerational transmission of eldercare values contributed to intergenerational congruence of care expectations but also led to similar struggles and ambivalent attitudes toward future care. Moreover, family capital was found to facilitate family care planning while Chinese cultural values that emphasize family care may hinder both generations’ efforts in care planning. The findings will deepen our understanding on characteristics of intergenerational care planning in Asian Chinese communities and inform services to improve adult children and ageing parents’ preparation for future eldercare.

Factors Affecting Students' Satisfaction with Synchronous Online Instruction During the COVID-19 Pandemic

A large number of institutions of higher learning at all levels transitioned hurriedly to remote and online learning in response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However, recent studies have concluded that university-level students prefer learning in face-to-face settings. This study seeks to understand the factors that are driving students ' rejection of remote and online learning options and to provide insight into future efforts to implement strategies and tools to mitigate these adverse factors. The results show factors that contribute the most to students' perceived satisfaction in the remote instructional setting are less interaction during live lectures, more distractions, less engagement in virtual classrooms, less effectiveness in understanding lectures, delayed responses and inability to get immediate assistance. A theoretical framework was developed to classify the contributing factors into three desirable learning related dimensions.

SARS-CoV-2 was not detected in 383 samples from birds

Since December 2019, an outbreak of pneumonia (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-Z) has been widespread in the world. Investigation of Virus spread is a constant research focus. At present, SARS-CoV-Z has not been detected in livestock, poultry, or fur animals. This study focused on the traceability of SARS-CoV-Z in rare and endangered migratory birds. A total of 383 samples (throat swabs, anal swabs and fecal samples) were collected from 10 types of rare or endangered migratory bird, including mallard, white duck, pheasant, swan goose and white swan, in Jilin Province, China, between September 2019 and April 2020. Real-time RT-PCR, as recommended by the World Health Organization, was used to detect SARS-CoV-Z in these samples. SARS-CoV-Z was not detected in any of the samples.

The nucleic acid of SARS-CoV-2 was negetive in 775 fur animal samples

In December 2019, an outbreak of a respiratory illness took place in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, and spread throughout China and other countries. A beta genus coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 was isolated and identified as a cause of the outbreak. Currently, the main infectious sources(host)of SARS-CoV-2 have not been identified. It has been reported that SARS-CoV-2 was possibly originated from wild animals, for example, bats. However, there are no reports on the traceability of SARS-CoV-2 to fur animals, such as minks, foxes and raccoon dogs, which are widely farmed in Northern China. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in fur animals. In this study, we detected SARS-CoV-2 in 625 tissue specimens collected from farmed minks, foxes and raccoon dogs of unknown death cases in 14 regions of China from 2016 to 2019 and 150 fecal samples collected from farmed minks, foxes and raccoon dogs in Jilin Province, China from August to December in 2019 using the Real-time RT-PCR method recommended by WHO. The results showed that SARS-CoV-2 was not detected in all the 775 samples.