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COVID-19 looks more and more like African Swine Fever

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11506610/coronavirus-kawasaki-disease-baby-nearly-died/




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Before we reopen the economy, could we please test the pigs in Wuhan, Hubei, and South Dakota for COVID-19?



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A discussion of the possible connection between COVID-19 and pigs.

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Why are workers at Smithfield pork plants not demanding that pigs and pork they process be tested for COVID-19?



https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/business/economy/coronavirus-smithfield-meat.html
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Minks are affected by COVID-19, but USA and China still apparently have not tested pigs.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-04-26/mink-found-to-have-coronavirus-on-two-dutch-farms-ministry


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Does hypoxia raise questions about the causation of COVID-19?



Since many people coming into hospitals for problems other than COVID-19 seem to have hypoxia, is it possible that the real epidemic is caused by an agent other than SARSCov-2?

The Times article on hypoxia:


Should doctors be testing for hypoxia rather than COVID-19? Is the COVID-19 virus (SARSCov-2) a coinfection or worse, a passenger and red herring?

Should we be concerned that pigs all over China have a hypoxia problem in the form of African Swine Fever? Do we need to look to those pigs for answers about what is really going on?


Would it be easier to test for hypoxia than COVID-19. 

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Is hypoxia a clue that African Swine Fever may be involved with COVID-19?



One of the first people to be affected with COVID-19 in Wuhan sold pork at the Wuhan seafood market. Were they also infected with African Swine Fever which causes hypoxia in pigs? 

 Read The New York Times story about hypoxia in people with COVID-19.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/opinion/coronavirus-testing-pneumonia.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

One of many articles about hypoxia in pigs with African Swine Fever:
https://asf-referencelab.info/asf/images/ficherosasf/PATOLOGY_1.pdf


One man who sold pork at the Wuhan market is a victim of Wuhan Pneumonia as is a man who reportedly went to the Wuhan market to buy "meat." If pigs infected with African Swine Fever are spreading the coronavirus, China and the rest of the world may have to change their approach to controlling the epidemic. Are African Swine Fever and COVID-19 coinfections in pigs and people?






Husband wife in the Eastern market selling pork has more than thirty years


At Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, Ms. Huang told China Business Daily that her husband is 52 years old. Both husband and wife are working in the South China Seafood Wholesale Market and selling pork non-staple food products in the Eastern District.
"We have been in the meat wholesale business for a lifetime, and it has been more than 30 years. In recent years, we have been in the South China Seafood Wholesale Market." Said Ms. Huang.
The market was closed and her husband was hospitalized, but Mr. Huang did not stop working. She could only go to the hospital to learn about her husband's illness, deliver meals or daily supplies. "After the market was closed and some markets were closed, some of the goods from the business owners inside could not get out. I got up at 12 o'clock in the evening to pick up the goods outside and then send them to the hotel." Ms. Huang told reporters that many merchants in the market Many customers have accumulated over the years.
During the exchange, the reporter saw that Ms. Huang's hand was rough, and his fingers were frozen very red and swollen.
"My husband was transferred from another hospital to Jinyintan Hospital on December 31, 2019. The fever was not very serious before, more than 38 degrees, but the symptoms have not improved. After transferring to Jinyintan Hospital, he still has a fever. Ms. Huang said.
According to Ms. Huang, her husband started to have symptoms of a cold and fever around December 25, 2019, and it has been more than a week now. At that time, I went to the Wuhan Central Hospital nearest to the South China Seafood Wholesale Market. I went to see that there was no hospitalization. Medical staff heard that the merchants in the seafood market suggested that we go directly to Jinyintan Hospital.
"When my husband first came, he lived on the 6th floor. When I heard that he was a merchant in the South China Seafood Wholesale Market, he moved to the fourth floor." Ms. Huang told reporters that most of the merchant patients in the South China Seafood Wholesale Market live in the fourth floor floor. After three days, the hospital paid 6,000 yuan in advance for hospitalization.
According to its introduction, patients in the South China Seafood Wholesale Market are mainly from the Western District, and less from the Eastern District. The Western District mainly sells seafood, chicken, duck and poultry frozen products, while the Eastern District sells more pork. "The goods in the market are the same in all parts of the country, and they are common in all parts of the country." Mrs. Huang said, "We are not sure whether the illness is related to the goods."
"I had a cold two or three days after my husband had a fever, and it took me two days to get an injection." Aunt Huang said. According to the reporter's understanding, the South China Seafood Wholesale Market environment has not been very good. Although it is also disinfected from time to time, the ventilation is poor. Most of the products sold are frozen products. After freezing, the environment is very humid.
Ms. Huang told reporters that a fire broke out in the western part of the market more than two months ago. A shop selling dry goods caught fire. It started to burn at 2:30 in the morning and burned to more than 7 o'clock before the fire was put out. "It was dried spices such as hot peppers. It was very smokey at the time, and it was particularly sultry. The 11th and 12th streets in the West District were completely burned.


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Author Naomi Wolf continues to raise questions about pigs and COVID-19



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Are pigeons in NYC infected with COVID-19? There are 7 million pigeons in New York City. They have ACE2 receptors that could be susceptible to COVID-19.


There are thought to be as many as 7 million pigeons in the city, among an estimated 400 million worldwide. Their numbers reflect the rise of urbanization: As New York’s population grows, so does that of pigeons, who live largely on seeds, bread crumbs, popcorn and our other leftovers. Cities are ideal for pigeons because window ledges, rooftops and bridges are perfect substitutes for the cliffside ledges they use for roosting and nesting in the wild. As long as there are people leaving food behind in cities, pigeons will keep coming. Most don’t live past 15 years and many die sooner, thanks to a wide array of predators—including red-tailed hawks, falcons, owls and feral cats. When they feel the flutter of the Grim Reaper, they’ll often retreat to attics or ventilation shafts to die alone, out of view. Pigeons breed prolifically between March and July.

Source:
https://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20160915/EXPERT/160919937/why-do-pigeons-reign-in-new-york-city-in-5-steps


 "SARS-CoV-2, the newly identified human coronavirus causing severe pneumonia pandemic, was probably originated from Chinese horseshoe bats. However, direct transmission of the virus from bats to humans is unlikely due to lack of direct contact, implying the existence of unknown intermediate hosts. Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is the receptor of SARS-CoV-2, but only ACE2s of certain species can be utilized by SARS-CoV-2. Here, we evaluated and ranked the receptor-utilizing capability of ACE2s from various species by phylogenetic clustering and sequence alignment with the currently known ACE2s utilized by SARS-CoV-2. As a result, we predicted that SARS-CoV-2 tends to utilize ACE2s of various mammals, except murines, and some birds, such as pigeon. This prediction may help to screen the intermediate hosts of SARS-CoV-2."

 Source: Microbes and Infection

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1286457920300496
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Should pigs and people in China be tested for both COVID-19 and African Swine Fever?



Given China's dishonesty about COVID-19, it doesn't seem crazy to wonder if COVID-19 is related to China's epidemic of African Swine Fever that has killed 200 million pigs. Uninformed people often talk about only one form of ASFV, the acute form. If COVID-19 is coming from China's ASFV-infected pigs, it would be in the chronic form. Here is a brief description of the chronic form:

Chronic disease symptoms include loss of weight, intermittent fever, respiratory signs, chronic skin ulcers and arthritis. Different types of pig may have varying susceptibility to ASF virus infection. African wild suids may be infected without showing clinical signs allowing them to act as reservoirs.



If pigs in China or he USA are ever determined to be positive for SARS-CoV-2, the next question should be, is African Swine Fever a coinfection? Is SARS-CoV-2 an opportunist the way that coronaviruses are opportunists in AIDS. (African Swine Fever is considered to be the AIDS of pigs.)

Detection of Novel Sequences Related to African Swine Fever Virus in Human Serum and Sewage in the USA
"Although ASFV is not known to infect humans even where the virus is endemic, identification of ASFV-like sequences in serum from multiple human patients suggests that human infection with African Swine Fever may occur."



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Is the CDC even competent enough to test pigs reliably for COVID-19?

Contamination at CDC lab delayed rollout of coronavirus tests

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/contamination-at-cdc-lab-delayed-rollout-of-coronavirus-tests/2020/04/18/fd7d3824-7139-11ea-aa80-c2470c6b2034_story.html


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Was COVID-19 circulating in pigs in southern China months before Wuhan?

A Bombshell report from the University of Cambridge.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/coronavirus-began-months-earlier-not-21882132


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Author Naomi Wolf raises questions about the role of pigs in the COVID-19 epidemic.




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It is crazy and irresponsible not to test pigs in South Dakota for COVID-19

CDC assesses plan to reopen Smithfield Foods pork plant in South Dakota, a US coronavirus hot spot
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2020/04/16/smithfield-foods-coronavirus-sioux-falls-south-dakota-reopening-plan/5150398002/


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Is SARSCov-2 an opportunistic infection is African Swine Fever in China?



Is the COVID-19 virus really an opportunist or part of an infection that includes a cofactor virus?

Here is the reason that people with COVID-19 should be tested for African Swine Fever virus.

African Swine Fever has been described as "The acquired immunodeficiency disease of domestic pigs." (See below.)

Pigs all over China have it. 1.2 million pigs have it. Every organ system is affected, including the lungs.

In human AIDS, coronaviruses are opportunistic infections. Check this out:

Detection of coronavirus-like particles in homosexual men with acquired immunodeficiency and related lymphadenopathy syndrome

So, if you have an ASFV epidemic all over China, and it is basically similar to AIDS, are those pigs susceptible to coronaviruses and is SARSCov-2 one of them?

Is the COVID-19 virus just a critical cofactor or biomarker for an underlying ASFV infection?

From an ASFV textbook:
African swine fever (ASF) is caused by a virus that is classified as a member of the Iridovirinae family. The disease in the warthog, the natural host, in Africa was described in 1921 by R. E. Montgomery. The reservoir of the virus is in ticks. The introduction of domestic pigs into territory occupied by warthogs infected with ASF in the 1960's has endangered the pig industry around the world. The domestic pig is highly sensitive to ASF and develops a devastating disease that kills the pig without giving the immune system a chance to defend the animal against the virus infection. The ability of ASF virus to infect and destroy cells of the reticuloendothelial system leaves a defenseless host that succumbs to an infection which may be described as an acquired immune deficiency disease of domestic pigs. Introduction of the virus into Iberia in the 1960's led to a series of ASF epidemics in Spain and Portugal . . and later in France, that caused heavy economic losses. Between 1976 and 1960, ASF virus made its appearance in Malta and Sardinia . . as well as in Brazil, The Dominican Republic . . Haiti, and later in Cuba. In 1985-6 . . ASF appeared in Belgium and The Netherlands.

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Why isn't the media asking more questions about COVID-19 and pig experiments with coronaviruses?


Chinese lab 'injected piglets with coronavirus and forced other pigs to eat them'

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/chinese-lab-injected-piglets-coronavirus-21867661
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COVID-19 cases at South Dakota pork plant rise to 293 and plant closes.



https://www.keloland.com/news/healthbeat/coronavirus/the-latest-104-new-cases-in-south-dakota-55-linked-to-smithfield-foods/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter_keloland

Smithfield Foods, the world’s biggest pork processor, said on Sunday it will shut a U.S. plant indefinitely due to a rash of coronavirus cases among employees and warned the country was moving “perilously close to the edge” in supplies for grocers. 

Time to look closer at pigs in South Dakota? Have their ACE2 receptors made them susceptible to COVID-19? Did China ever test the pigs in Wuhan and Hubei?

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Were experiments with pigs the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic?


Source: Daily Mail
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8211257/Wuhan-lab-performing-experiments-bats-coronavirus-caves.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490
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Congress must demand that pigs in South Dakota be tested for COVID-19



SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - 238 individuals that work at Smithfield Foods have now tested positive for COVID-19.
 54% of the cases in Minnehaha County, which is now at 438, are in connection to the pork plant.

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Can we really be certain pigs can't be infected with the COVID-19 virus?


Smithfield Foods Inc, the world’s biggest pork processor, is temporarily closing a massive plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the company said on Thursday, after more than 80 workers there tested positive for coronavirus. 
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/smithfield-foods-idling-big-us-pork-plant-after-80-coronavirus-cases/ar-BB12p8F8
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Has China looked for sequences to African Swine Fever virus in COVID-19 patients?


Detection of Novel Sequences Related to African Swine Fever Virus in Human Serum and Sewage
"The family Asfarviridae contains only a single virus species, African swine fever virus (ASFV). ASFV is a viral agent with significant economic impact due to its devastating effects on populations of domesticated pigs during outbreaks but has not been reported to infect humans. We report here the discovery of novel viral sequences in human serum and sewage which are clearly related to the asfarvirus family but highly divergent from ASFV. Detection of these sequences suggests that greater genetic diversity may exist among asfarviruses than previously thought and raises the possibility that human infection by asfarviruses may occur."
Source:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2786824/


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Did Germany’s Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut botch experiments with pigs and COVID-19?

Was there a better way to infect pigs with THE COVID-19 virus? Do pigs, with ACE2 receptors, get infected with THE COVID-19 virus in some other way?

 "Germany’s Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) started infection studies with SARS-CoV-2 in pigs, chickens, fruit bats, and ferrets several weeks ago. The animals were inoculated nasally with SARS-CoV-2 to mimic the natural route of infection in humans via the nasopharyngeal route."

http://www.farmbusiness.co.uk/news/german-study-shows-pigs-and-poultry-are-not-susceptible-to-covid-19.html



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Can rapid paper test for African Swine Fever be adapted for COVID-19?

Rapid detection of African swine fever virus using Cas12a-based portable paper diagnostics
"During the period of manuscript revision, the outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus began in Wuhan city, leading to more than 3,000 deaths and 80,000 hospitalizations so far. Sustained person-to-person spread of COVID-19 was reported, and it may cause severe pneumonia and other complications in people42. The Cas12a-based strip may be useful to rapidly detect COVID-19, particularly in regions that lack resources."

 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41421-020-0151-5

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Research on pig susceptibility to COVID-19 is being conducted in the USA



https://www.agweb.com/article/new-research-says-pigs-chickens-are-not-susceptible-covid-19
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The USDA and independent researchers need to do their own research into the susceptibility of pigs to the COVID-19 virus.



Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2: Fruit bats and ferrets are susceptible, pigs and chickens are not
https://www.fli.de/en/press/press-releases/press-singleview/novel-coronavirus-sars-cov-2-fruit-bats-and-ferrets-are-susceptible-pigs-and-chickens-are-not/
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Study says healthy pigs are not susceptible to COVID-19. But are China's pigs sick with African Swine Fever susceptible?



Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2: Fruit bats and ferrets are susceptible, pigs and chickens are not
https://www.fli.de/en/press/press-releases/press-singleview/novel-coronavirus-sars-cov-2-fruit-bats-and-ferrets-are-susceptible-pigs-and-chickens-are-not/
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