The panic around mitigating the spread of novel coronavirus globally is spurring medical experts
to identify the origin of the outbreak. Specifically, they want to identify and locate Patient Zero.
Technically referred to as an “index case,” Patient Zero is the first documented human
infected by a disease of any outbreak.
The ability to find the origin case in an outbreak can help researchers determine
when and how it started. This helps health experts model the progress of the disease
and take steps to prevent another outbreak from jumping from animals to humans.
Chinese authorities do not currently know who was the first human carrier of COVID-19.
This is an important means to safeguard the broader population because locating everyone
that this “patient zero” has come into contact with can help curb further transmission.
of being sick quickly enough to make their condition known before they may have passed it on.
This pattern has helped to make each new national origin probe of COVID-19
as it continues to spread – incredibly difficult.
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Jakub Exner Zoombies
