niman

Chinese report says illnesses may be from new coronavirus By YANAN WANG and MIKE STOBBE39 minutes ago FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2020, file photo, a health surveillance officer monitors passengers arriving at the Hong Kong International airport in Hong Kong. A preliminary investigation into viral pneumonia illnesses sickening dozens of people in and around China has identified the possible cause as a new type of coronavirus, state media said Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020. In Hong Kong, 15 patients with symptoms of respiratory illness were being treated as of Sunday. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File) BEIJING (AP) — A preliminary investigation into viral pneumonia illnesses sickening dozens of people in and around China has identified the possible cause as a new type of coronavirus, state media said Thursday. Chinese health authorities did not immediately confirm the report from state broadcaster CCTV. Coronaviruses are spread through coughing or sneezing or by touching an infected person. Some cause the common cold and others can lead to more severe respiratory diseases, such as SARS and MERS. Such viruses are common in people but more exotic versions from bats, camels and other animals have caused severe illness. The novel coronavirus is different from those that have previously been identified, CCTV said. Health authorities ruled out SARS and MERS as possible causes over the weekend. As of Sunday, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said 59 people in the central Chinese city were being treated for the respiratory illness. Seven were in critical condition, while the rest were stable. Eight patients were discharged Wednesday, Xinhua state news agency reported. They had not exhibited any pneumonia symptoms for several days. Laboratory experts as of Wednesday evening had found the novel coronavirus in 15 of the 59 cases, CCTV said, adding that more research must be done before a conclusion is reached. Possible cases of the same illness have been reported in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan involving recent travelers to Wuhan. Since the end of 2019, Hong Kong public hospitals have reported 38 patients who presented with fever, respiratory infection or pneumonia symptoms after recent visits to Wuhan. Twenty-one of those patients have since been discharged, Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority said Wednesday. No serious cases have been found to be related to those in Wuhan, said Hong Kong health chief Sophia Chan. None of the Hong Kong patients had visited the seafood market in Wuhan where some of the mainland Chinese patients operated businesses. The South China Seafood City food market will be suspended and investigated, Wuhan’s health commission said. A Chinese woman who works for a South Korean company was diagnosed Tuesday with pneumonia, according to the Korea Centers of Disease Control and Prevention said. Meanwhile, Taiwan authorities said Wednesday that they were quarantining a patient who fell ill with flu symptoms on Jan. 6, more than two weeks after the individual returned from a trip to Wuhan. The new illnesses had raised fears of a recurrence of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. The disease first infected people in southern China in late 2002, and spread to more than two dozen countries. More than 8,000 people were sickened and nearly 800 died, but no cases have been reported since 2004. Another coronavirus caused MERS, or Middle East respiratory syndrome. That outbreak started in Jordan and Saudi Arabia in 2012 and spread into about two dozen other countries. About 2,500 lab-confirmed cases have been reported, including more than 800 deaths, with cases continuing to be seen in recent years. On Wednesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put out a health alert advising physicians who treat patients with pneumonia-like illness to consider a possible link to the Chinese outbreak and to wear masks and take other precautions in treating patients who recently traveled to Wuhan. The CDC this week also advised U.S. travelers going to Wuhan to avoid animals and sick people and wash their hands often. ___ Stobbe reported from New York. https://apnews.com/1565541fb13b6a2f0c871e0eae02bd7d?utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_medium=AP

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1 hr interview repeats at 2 AM ET Dr Henry Niman PhDA New Mystery Epidemic In China

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Correction 1 hr interview TONIGHT at 11 ET (NOW) on Wuhon Novel Coronavirus sequence in same class as SARS CoV

1 hr interview TONIGHT at midnight ET on Wuhon Novel Coronavirus sequence in same class as SARS CoV

China’s Mystery Pneumonia Cases Are Linked to Novel Coronavirus By Kristen V Brown January 8, 2020, 5:59 PM EST Updated on January 8, 2020, 8:20 PM EST Further research is needed to identify pathogen, CCTV says Eight patients in Wuhan have been discharged from hospital Public health officials run thermal scans on passengers arriving from Wuhan, China at Suvarnabumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand on Jan 8. Photographer: Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images LISTEN TO ARTICLE 2:23 SHARE THIS ARTICLE In this article CHCETZ CHINA CENTRAL TELEVISION Private Company 0751538D WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION Private Company A mysterious pneumonia outbreak that has sickened dozens in central China is linked to a previously unidentified coronavirus, China Central Television said. Further research is needed on the virus, which is different to the coronavirus that causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, CCTV said, citing scientists’ early findings. The World Health Organization said earlier Thursday a novel virus may be the cause of the outbreak in Wuhan. ADVERTISING Scientist have speculated for days that a novel coronavirus might have caused the Wuhan outbreak as officials there ruled out other coronaviruses -- including SARS and MERS-CoV -- as well as influenza, avian influenza and adenovirus. Public health officials run thermal scans on passengers arriving from Wuhan, China at Suvarnabumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand on Jan 8. Photographer: Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images The WHO said that more comprehensive information is needed to positively identify the pathogen. The virus doesn’t transmit readily between people, the WHO said, citing Chinese authorities. More From Prognosis Health-Care Ministry Aliera Subpoenaed by New York Regulator U.S. Cancer Death Rates Are Dropping at the Fastest Pace on Record Shroom-Therapy Startup Edges Toward FDA Approval Merck, Otsuka Make R&D Pact for Buzzed-About Cancer Target READ MORE FROM PROGNOSIS How China’s Mystery Illness Is and Isn’t Like SARS: QuickTake Dozens of people have been hospitalized in Wuhan since the first patient developed symptoms Dec. 12. Some patients worked at a seafood market where birds, snakes and rabbit organs were reportedly sold. There have been no reports of fatalities or health-care workers becoming infected, and CCTV said eight patients have been discharged from the hospital. The illness also doesn’t appear to be spreading outside Wuhan. While regions including Hong Kong and Singapore have reported illnesses from travelers who had been to Wuhan, none so far has shown a link to the pneumonia cluster. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that range from the common cold to SARS, the WHO said. Some cause less-severe disease, some more severe. Some transmit easily from person to person, while others don’t. “Disease X” -- a term used to denote a previously unknown disease -- is “one of the key health security risks in today’s world, and a priority for global monitoring,” said James M. Wilson, a pediatrician who has helped monitor health security threats for 25 years. Such diseases are often reported very late, after severe cases emerge, Wilson said. But since SARS, there has been a dramatic increase in access to sophisticated diagnostic testing, allowing for the early identification of viruses. In the Wuhan case, the Chinese may be dealing with a virus that is not as lethal as SARS, which killed almost 800 people about 17 years ago, or is in early stages of discovery before deaths have occurred, he said. — With assistance by Jason Gale, and Dong Lyu https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-08/china-s-mystery-pneumonia-illness-may-be-linked-to-new-virus?utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&utm_medium=social&utm_content=business&utm_source=twitter

China confirms new coronavirus as it investigates mysterious Wuhan illness A new strain from the family that caused Sars is identified in 15 patients South China Morning Post January 09, 2020 SHARETWEETFLIPBOARDEMAIL c60548da-3284-11ea-9400-58350050ee52imagehires104801.jpg The Wuhan Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market is closed and under guard after being linked to the mystery illness late last month. Photo: Simon Song Chinese scientists investigating a mystery illness that has infected dozens in the central city of Wuhan have said it is a new strain of coronavirus from the same family that caused the 2002-03 Sars epidemic. Laboratory tests have found a new type of coronavirus and the whole genome sequence of the new virus has been obtained, state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Thursday, citing a task force of experts. Virus checks conducted on all passengers arriving via Wuhan trains Fifteen patients had tested positive for the new coronavirus, the report stated. It said the virus had been isolated from one of the 15 patients and showed “typical coronavirus morphology” under electron microscope observation. “The pathogen of these unexplained cases of viral pneumonia was initially identified as a new type of coronavirus,” the report quoted the expert group as saying. There have been 59 reported cases of the mysterious virus in Wuhan since late December, some of them connected to a seafood market in which wild animals had been sold. The market has since been closed. Retrospective study identified that the first case had been identified on December 12 and the latest on December 29. No deaths have been reported and eight patients, no longer showing pneumonia symptoms, had been discharged from hospital by Wednesday. The Wuhan health authority has said that no human-to-human transmission has so far been detected. 59 people found with mysterious illness in Wuhan Coronaviruses can infect mammals such as pigs, cattle, cats, dogs, camels, bats and mice, as well as humans. Of the six previously known human coronaviruses, four were common and caused only minor respiratory symptoms similar to those of a cold. The other two were serious respiratory diseases: the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) coronavirus that killed more than 700 people worldwide after originating in China, and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus that had caused 449 deaths by 2015. https://yp.scmp.com/news/china/article/115246/china-confirms-new-coronavirus-it-investigates-mysterious-wuhan-illness

The Wuhan strain is similar to bat coronaviruses that were a precursor to SARS, according to a person familiar with the new findings. Given the marked advances in hospital isolation facilities, infection-control training and laboratory diagnostic capabilities in the past two decades, it is unlikely that this outbreak will lead to a major 2003-like epidemic, Mr. Yuen said.In Wuhan, which has China's 1st Biosafety Level 4 laboratory - a specialized research laboratory that deals with potentially deadly infectious agents like Ebola - the market at the center of investigations has been shut down since [1 Jan 2020]. https://promedmail.org/promed-post/?id=20200108.6877694

People's Daily, China @PDChina · 43m Experts say the previously unidentified pneumonia in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, which has had 59 confirmed cases, is believed to be a new type of coronavirus. Follow People's Daily, China @PDChina The largest newspaper in China Beijing, Chinapeople.cnJoined May 2011 4,594 Following 7M Followers

WHO says mysterious illness in China likely being caused by new virus By HELEN BRANSWELL @HelenBranswell JANUARY 8, 2020 Health officials hand out disease monitoring information after performing thermal scans on passengers arriving in Bangkok from Wuhan, China.LAUREN DECICCA/GETTY IMAGES The World Health Organization confirmed on Wednesday that Chinese authorities believe a new coronavirus — from the family that produced SARS and MERS — may be the cause of mysterious pneumonia cases in the city of Wuhan. The Chinese government has not yet publicly stated that a coronavirus is the cause of the illness, which has infected at least 59 people. But the Wall Street Journal reported that was the case earlier Wednesday, citing unnamed sources. “Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that range from the common cold to SARS. Some cause less-severe disease, some more severe. Some transmit easily from person to person, while others don’t,” the WHO statement said. The virus can cause severe illness in some patients, the agency said, adding that it does not “transmit readily” between people. Earlier statements from the Wuhan Municipal Health Authority said there has been no person-to-person spread — a claim disease experts say is impossible to make at this stage in the exploration of a new disease. “I don’t know how you know that at all,” said Matthew Frieman, a coronavirus expert at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He noted the number of cases reported makes it seem unlikely that animal-to-human transmission is the only way this virus spread. The WHO said that as authorities home in on the cause — and develop better detection tools — the number of cases associated with this outbreak may rise. The fact that a coronavirus may be responsible will come as no surprise to the infectious diseases experts who have been watching the situation unfold. The type of illness and the fact that it is emerging in China — where a number of SARS-like and other coronaviruses have been isolated from bats — has pointed in that direction. Experts said it will now be important for China to share more information, including enough of a genetic sequence so that health facilities outside of China know what to look for when faced with a pneumonia case with a recent travel history to Wuhan. As it currently stands, Hong Kong is isolating any such cases until they can be tested for influenza, rhinoviruses, and other viruses that cause colds and flu. Given it is flu season in the Northern Hemisphere, telling countries to be on the look out for travelers with fevers and cold-like symptoms casts a very broad net. “It really behooves them to at least provide enough information to allow the global community to be ready to do testing,” said Ralph Baric, a coronavirus expert at the University of North Caroline. “Otherwise you’re just doing screening for fever — in the middle of respiratory disease season? Financial nightmare.” It will also be critical to figure out how the virus transmitted to people. The outbreak has been linked to a large seafood market that also sells live exotic animals for consumption. The market was closed and decontaminated on Jan. 1. Baric said investigations will be underway to identify which species — singular or plural — was infected in the market. “Understanding the reservoir is critical for eliminating that whole aspect of animal-to-human jump,” Frieman said. Identifying the reservoir of the virus will also require tracing the animals suspected of being infected back to their suppliers so that it can be determined whether other markets might also have received infected animals. During the 2003 SARS outbreak — in which more than 8,000 people were infected and nearly 800 died — the source of the virus was traced to palm civets that are eaten as a delicacy in parts of China. The Chinese government ordered a mass culling of the animals as part of its effort to stop the outbreak. News of the pneumonia cases first emerged on Dec. 30, when the local health authority told hospitals to be on the lookout for cases. The next day Chinese authorities informed the WHO that they were dealing with what looked like an outbreak caused by an unknown virus. In its most recent update, the Wuhan Municipal Health Authority said there had been 59 cases, seven of which were in critical condition. The statement said the first known case began showing signs of illness on Dec. 12 and the last case of illness onset was Dec. 29. About the Author Helen Branswell Senior Writer, Infectious Disease Helen Branswell covers issues broadly related to infectious diseases, including outbreaks, preparedness, research, and vaccine development. [email protected] @HelenBranswell https://www.statnews.com/2020/01/08/who-says-mysterious-illness-in-china-likely-being-caused-by-new-virus/?utm_content=buffer5874a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=twitter_organic

WHO says mysterious illness in China likely being caused by new virus By HELEN BRANSWELL @HelenBranswell JANUARY 8, 2020 Health officials hand out disease monitoring information after performing thermal scans on passengers arriving in Bangkok from Wuhan, China.LAUREN DECICCA/GETTY IMAGES The World Health Organization confirmed on Wednesday that Chinese authorities believe a new coronavirus — from the family that produced SARS and MERS — may be the cause of mysterious pneumonia cases in the city of Wuhan. The Chinese government has not yet publicly stated that a coronavirus is the cause of the illness, which has infected at least 59 people. But the Wall Street Journal reported that was the case earlier Wednesday, citing unnamed sources. The WHO statement said that the virus can cause severe illness in some patients and does not “transmit readily” between people. Earlier statements from the Wuhan Municipal Health Authority have said there has been no person-to-person spread — a claim disease experts say is impossible to make at this stage in the outbreak. “Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that range from the common cold to SARS. Some cause less-severe disease, some more severe. Some transmit easily from person to person, while others don’t,” the WHO said. The outbreak has been linked to a large seafood market which also sells live exotic animals. The market was closed on Jan. 1. This story will be updated. https://www.statnews.com/2020/01/08/who-says-mysterious-illness-in-china-likely-being-caused-by-new-virus/?utm_content=buffer5874a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=twitter_organic

Published Date: 2020-01-08 10:30:07 Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Undiagnosed pneumonia - China (HU) (05): novel coronavirus identified Archive Number: 20200108.6877694 UNDIAGNOSED PNEUMONIA - CHINA (HUBEI) (05): NOVEL CORONAVIRUS IDENTIFIED ************************************************************************ A ProMED-mail post http://www.promedmail.org ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases http://www.isid.org Date: Wed 8 Jan 2019 Source: Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-virus-discovered-by-chinese-scientists-investigating-pneumonia-outbreak-11578485668 New Virus Discovered by Chinese Scientists Investigating Pneumonia Outbreak Latest tally of people sickened in Wuhan is 59, with 7 in a critical condition ---------------------------------------------- Chinese scientists investigating a mystery illness that has sickened dozens in central China have discovered a new strain of coronavirus, a development that will test the country's upgraded capabilities for dealing with unfamiliar infectious diseases. The novel coronavirus was genetically sequenced from a sample from 1 patient and subsequently found in some of the others affected in the city of Wuhan, according to people familiar with the findings. Chinese authorities haven't concluded that the strain is the underlying cause of sickness in all the patients who have been isolated in Wuhan since the infection 1st broke out in early December [2019], the people said. There are many known coronaviruses -- some can cause ailments like common colds in humans, while others don't affect humans at all. Some - such as severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in 2003 - have led to deadly outbreaks, lending urgency to efforts to contain the current situation. High Alert Some past coronavirus outbreaks, such as SARS and MERS, have had high death rates. Yet, there is no suggestion this new illness would cause such issues so far. SARS / MERS* ----------------------- Cases: 8098 / 2468 Deaths: 774 / 851 Death rate: 9.6% / 34.5% When: 2002-2003 / 2012- Where first reported: China / Saudi Arabia *As of September 2019 Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization The number of reported cases of viral pneumonia in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, was 59 on Sunday, rising from 27 on [31 Dec 2019], according to Wuhan's Municipal Health Commission, with 7 people in a critical condition. No deaths have been reported. The disease afflicting patients in Wuhan hasn't been transmitted from human to human, and health-care workers have remained uninfected, according to city health officials as of [5 Jan 2020], suggesting that what is sickening them is for now less virulent than SARS. Those ill in Wuhan are believed to have become sick through exposure to animals linked to a live seafood and animal market. Health experts say one risk is that the disease could become a bigger threat as tens of millions of Chinese travel around the country during the Lunar New Year holidays that begin in just over 2 weeks. Health authorities in Singapore and Hong Kong, cities that have direct flights from Wuhan, have issued alerts and quarantined patients travelling from the region who show signs of fever or breathing difficulties. In Hong Kong on Tuesday [7 Jan 2020], the government said it was taking precautions against a "severe respiratory disease associated with a novel infectious agent" that it is seeking to make a statutory notifiable infectious disease, meaning doctors would need to report any suspected cases, and patients evading quarantine could be fined or jailed. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to make an announcement of its findings in the coming days, a person familiar with the matter said. The CDC couldn't be reached for comment late Tuesday [7 Jan 2020]. China was criticized for initially covering up SARS, which was 1st detected in late 2002 but was disclosed only after it began spreading widely, eventually killing 774 people globally, according to the World Health Organization. Beijing overhauled the nation's disease control after reviews found that initial failures to contain and isolate patients with SARS allowed it to proliferate across densely populated Southern China. The Wuhan outbreak will test how much has changed. "We learned a bitter lesson in 2003, and we do not want that to happen again," said Alex Lam, chairman of advocacy group Hong Kong Patients' Voices. "China should immediately release their findings so doctors across the world can better know how to tackle this illness." Hong Kong's department of health, citing information from China's National Health Commission, said the cause of the cluster of pneumonia cases detected in Wuhan was still under investigation, but other known respiratory pathogens had been ruled out. The main clinical symptoms of those affected by the Wuhan outbreak are fever - with a few patients having difficulty breathing - and invasive lesions of both lungs, which show up on chest radiographs, the WHO said Sunday [5 Jan 2020]. It is unclear what the underlying source of the disease is, though the reported link to a wholesale fish and live animal market could indicate an exposure link to animals, the WHO said. Bats, for example, are known "reservoirs" for coronaviruses, and have been found to transmit the disease to humans through a third vector such as a civet cat, as scientists found in the case of SARS. The pattern of the unexplained pneumonia cases linked to the market selling seafood and also live game strongly suggests that this is a novel microbe jumping from animal to human, said K.Y. Yuen, Chair Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Hong Kong's Faculty of Medicine. Researchers have determined that a large proportion of new infectious diseases in humans are transmitted via animals. Such illnesses are referred to as zoonoses. 2 newer human coronaviruses, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, have been known to cause severe illness and death, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The Wuhan strain is similar to bat coronaviruses that were a precursor to SARS, according to a person familiar with the new findings. Given the marked advances in hospital isolation facilities, infection-control training and laboratory diagnostic capabilities in the past two decades, it is unlikely that this outbreak will lead to a major 2003-like epidemic, Mr. Yuen said. In Wuhan, which has China's 1st Biosafety Level 4 laboratory - a specialized research laboratory that deals with potentially deadly infectious agents like Ebola - the market at the center of investigations has been shut down since [1 Jan 2020]. In Hong Kong, badly hit by the SARS virus, which claimed 299 lives locally in 2003, residents have donned surgical masks on the streets and public transport in recent days, despite no local cases of the Wuhan infection being confirmed. [Byline: Natasha Khan] -- Communicated by: ProMED-mail Rapporteur Kunihiko Iizuka and Ryan McGinnis <[email protected]> [This is not a surprising finding for all of the reasons stated in previous posts (and speculated there as well). The well known coronaviruses are those that are responsible for the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome) outbreaks in 2002-2003 and 2012 to the present respectively (see insert table in media report above. Coronaviruses belong to the subfamily _Coronavirinae_ in the family _Coronaviridae_, in the order _Nidovirales_. Coronaviruses are enveloped viruses with a positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome and with a nucleocapsid of composed of helical symmetry. There are other human coronaviruses that have been associated with mild upper respiratory symptoms (commonly referred to as the "common cold"). More information on this novel coronavirus from knowledgeable sources would be greatly appreciated. A map of China showing locations of major cities in China can be found at https://www.chinadiscovery.com/china-maps/city-maps.html. HealthMap/ProMED-mail map of Hubei Province, China: http://healthmap.org/promed/p/340. - Mod.MPP] See Also Undiagnosed pneumonia - China (HU) (04): Hong Kong surveillance 20200106.6874277 Undiagnosed pneumonia - China (HU) (03): updates, SARS, MERS ruled out, WHO, RFI 20200105.6872267 Undiagnosed pneumonia - China (02): (HU) updates, other country responses, RFI 20200103.6869668 Undiagnosed pneumonia - China (01): (HU) wildlife sales, market closed, RFI 20200102.6866757 2019 ---- Undiagnosed pneumonia - China (HU), RFI 20191230.6864153 .................................................lm/mpp/ml https://promedmail.org/promed-post/?id=20200108.6877694

Wuhan pneumonia epidemic-related market closed, animal viscera scattered on street corners 2020 at 18:26 on January 1st Since December 2019, 27 unexplained pneumonia patients have appeared in Wuhan, most of which are business operators in South China Seafood City, Jianghan District, Wuhan. On January 1st, the South China Seafood Market posted a closing announcement, saying that environmental sanitation will be carried out. ↑ Closed Notice The announcement of the rest of the market was jointly issued by the Wuhan Jianghan District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau and the Jianghan District Health and Health Bureau. The announcement showed that "according to the provisions of the State Council's" Regulations on Public Health Emergencies "and other regulations and regulations The situation of pneumonia was reported. After research, it was decided that the South China Seafood Wholesale Market should be closed for environmental sanitation. We would like to actively cooperate with the merchants. The market opening time will be notified separately. "The payment time is January 1. ↑ Wuhan South China Seafood Wholesale Market The reporter called a merchant selling dry goods and seasonings in the market, saying that he had to “close” when he received a phone call from another merchant at 6 am. “I came late in the morning, unlike other seafood vendors.” The merchant said that if I did n’t open the door before the holiday, and I had to go back to my hometown Xinyang in advance to celebrate the New Year. The day before, the reporter visited the South China Seafood Market and found that there were abandoned rabbit heads and animal offal in the market. Many merchants confirmed that rabbits, pheasants and snakes were sold in the market. However, the reporter did not see the slaughter at the scene, and the surrounding merchants said that it had closed. Reporters visited South China seafood market Animal offal scattered on the street "Public patients with unexplained pneumonia in the South China Seafood Market in Wuhan have been aroused." The reporter found that a netizen named @ 万 谦 宠爱 _Yuki posted on Weibo that the South China seafood market had pheasants, snakes, marmots and other animals slaughtered and sold. The netizen said that he had been to the South China Seafood Market. Signboards like that are hanging brightly ... " ↑ Abandoned animal carcasses and internal organs at the end of Sixth Street, West District On the afternoon of December 31, the reporter visited the South China Seafood Market in Jianghan District, Wuhan City, and found that there were abandoned rabbit heads and animal offal scattered on the corner of Sixth Street in the western part of the market. The owner of a nearby stall said that there are several vendors selling game on Sixth Street, such as pheasants, snakes, and many other varieties. Iron cage. The stall owner was very alert to reporters asking if there were any game sales. At the entrance of the Western District, the reporter asked several stall sellers and shopkeepers selling dry goods where they could buy game, saying "Go inside." ↑ The "Selling Game" shop is located at Sixth Street, West Market, and is currently closed At around 4:30 pm, the reporter found in the market that several staff members of the Wuhan Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were wearing plain clothes, holding a list, and taking pictures of the merchant's signs separately. The staff refused to answer questions from reporters about whether they are investigating patient booths. Reporters found at least 15 people's names and phone numbers on the list from the staff. The reporter then asked a stall owner at the entrance of the Western District, a person named Li Mouhuan, who said that he was a "sell beast (game)" merchant in the market. ↑ The staff of CDC are investigating The reporter then verified the above statement with the relevant staff at the South China Seafood Market Management Office. A staff member said "no comment" and said that the relevant government departments had organized a meeting for them, and all the information issued by the relevant departments shall prevail. The investigation found that most of the pneumonia cases were from South China Seafood City operators. At present, related virus typing, isolation treatment, public opinion control, and terminal disinfection are underway. At present, all cases have been isolated for treatment, follow-up investigations and medical observations of close contacts are ongoing, and hygiene investigations and environmental sanitation disposals for South China Seafood City are ongoing. According to a virus research expert at the Medical Department of Wuhan University, in general, it is difficult to imagine pneumonia virus coming out of the seafood market. The most infectious diseases in the seafood market are hepatitis A and Vibrio parahaemolyticus infections, which are imported from the mouth. The expert said that even if there is, it is also a human reason, and has a smaller relationship with the seafood there. From the test results obtained so far, there is a very small possibility that cannot be ruled out, but it is really very inclined not to be SARS coronavirus. The homology is very low, with less than 4% gene coverage, making it impossible to judge. Need to test again. The expert said that in general, pneumonia pathogens are very rare in the pure seafood market. Generally, pneumonia can be caused. For example, SARS pathogens in 2003 "are more in wild animals." The expert reminded: during the high flu season, you should avoid going to crowded places, especially children and the elderly. At home, pay attention to ventilation and strengthen exercise. Recently, Class A and Class B have spread, and many primary and secondary schools have suspended classes. Influenza greatly reduces immunity and is also prone to co-infection and cause pneumonia. https://k.sina.com.cn/article_1315590387_4e6a50f301900p0k6.html?from=news&subch=onews

Just in Time for Lunar New Year, Another SARS-like Epidemic Is Brewing in China Scores of people in Wuhan and Hong Kong have been sent to hospitals because of a mystery respiratory ailment—and true to form, China is trying to keep it quiet. BY LAURIE GARRETT | JANUARY 8, 2020, 12:56 PM Public health officials run thermal scans on passengers arriving from Wuhan, China, at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok on Jan 8. LAUREN DECICCA/GETTY IMAGES Here we go again. A mysterious outbreak sickens people in China, causing panic in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan as the world awaits real information from Beijing. We have been here many times before, from deadly influenza epidemics in the 1990s to SARS in 2003, with more flus since and recently even a cluster of pneumonic plague cases. This time around, the story begins with a mysterious respiratory outbreak on Dec. 12 in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. It sent at least 59 people to isolation wards in infectious diseases hospitals, where seven are now said to be in critical condition. As is typical, Beijing has kept mum about the outbreak, aside from insisting that the scientists—including non-Chinese—toiling to identify the culprit microorganism need to maintain secrecy and that there is no evidence that it can be spread from person to person. In fact, the government delayed notifying anybody about the pneumonia outbreak until Wuhan city officials acknowledged it two weeks after its apparent onset. In part because of the delay, the disease spread—there have been at least 16 cases so far in restive Hong Kong and one putative case in Singapore—and Beijing has threatened to jail individuals who convey further information about the disease on social media. The government of Chinese President Xi Jinping is doing itself no favors by handling outbreaks in such a brutal and secretive fashion. Regardless of whatever legitimate scientific inquiry may now be underway, the lack of transparency and domestic repression of so-called rumormongers simply fuel international suspicions of a cover-up, perhaps of a larger-than-admitted epidemic. Most of the news media worldwide has compared the Wuhan outbreak to the 2003 SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic, which spread from mainland China to nearly 30 nations, sickening upwards of 8,000 people, killing 774, and sowing panic around the world. China would do well to remember the lessons of that outbreak—particularly the humiliation its leaders suffered from anger across Asia—and open the lid on daily information on the Wuhan pneumonia investigation. And it had better do so before Jan. 25, the Lunar New Year, when millions of Chinese pass through the nation’s high-speed train hub of Wuhan on their way to celebrate the holiday with relatives. As of this writing, it seems that the new outbreak started in, or around, a very large indoor fish market in the city of Wuhan, which has a population of more than 11 million and is located south of Beijing in Hubei province. Whatever the precise origin, most of the subsequent infections have been in Wuhan. Two of China’s major rivers—the Yangtze and Han—flow through the city, making it one of China’s oldest and most important centers of commerce. It is also a hub in China’s vast high-speed railway system, which carries millions of passengers daily. In other words, the latest outbreak has not struck some remote outpost, as has been the case with other epidemics, including Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but has arisen in a central hub in a country that is, itself, at the center of international trade and travel. The Medical Administration of Wuhan Municipal Health Committee first raised the alarm on Dec. 30, when it posted a red alert on its website, declaring an “urgent notice on the treatment of pneumonia of unknown cause.” Local reporters who called the Health Committee hotline were merely told that there was a pneumonia outbreak of unknown cause involving 27 patients, most of whom were connected in some way to the South China Seafood Market. The patients exhibited respiratory distress, reduced white blood cell counts, and high fevers, and they failed to improve with antibiotic treatment. A viral cause was suspected. On New Year’s Eve, Hubei provincial authorities put out a report announcing that an official inquiry concurred that “27 cases of viral pneumonia have been found, all of which were diagnosed with viral pneumonia/pulmonary infection. Of the 27 cases, seven were critically ill, and the remaining cases were controllable. Two of them improved and were expected to be discharged soon.” That night, Hong Kong authorities began tightening security, acknowledging that three travelers who had been in Wuhan had ended up in hospitals in the territory suffering respiratory distress. One woman was being treated in Princess Margaret Hospital, which managed many of the 2003 SARS cases. Along with Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan also began conducting temperature screenings at airports and train stations, hoping to spot feverish pneumonia carriers before they could spread whatever the mysterious disease might be. Then, on New Year’s Day, alleged medical documents appeared on Chinese social media and Twitter purporting to show that the outbreak was, in fact, caused by the SARS virus, which is a member of the coronavirus family. But by Jan. 3, Chinese authorities said they had ruled out several types of pneumonia, as well as SARS, noting that the mystery agent was not a coronavirus and bore less than 4 percent genetic similarity with SARS. Concern about another SARS epidemic was ill-placed, authorities said, and they arrested eight individuals from Wuhan, who now face severe punishments for “publishing false information on the internet without verification.” https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/08/lunar-new-year-hong-kong-pnuemonia-sars-epidemic-wuhan/

Pneumonia of unknown cause – China Disease outbreak news 5 January 2020 On 31 December 2019, the WHO China Country Office was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology (unknown cause) detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. As of 3 January 2020, a total of 44 patients with pneumonia of unknown etiology have been reported to WHO by the national authorities in China. Of the 44 cases reported, 11 are severely ill, while the remaining 33 patients are in stable condition. According to media reports, the concerned market in Wuhan was closed on 1 January 2020 for environmental sanitation and disinfection. The causal agent has not yet been identified or confirmed. On 1 January 2020, WHO requested further information from national authorities to assess the risk. National authorities report that all patients are isolated and receiving treatment in Wuhan medical institutions. The clinical signs and symptoms are mainly fever, with a few patients having difficulty in breathing, and chest radiographs showing invasive lesions of both lungs. According to the authorities, some patients were operating dealers or vendors in the Huanan Seafood market. Based on the preliminary information from the Chinese investigation team, no evidence of significant human-to-human transmission and no health care worker infections have been reported. Public Health Response National authorities have reported the following response measures: One hundred and twenty-one close contacts have been identified and are under medical observation; The follow-up of close contacts is ongoing; Pathogen identification and the tracing of the cause are underway; Wuhan Municipal Health Commission carried out active case finding, and retrospective investigations have been completed; Environmental sanitation and further hygiene investigations are under way. WHO is closely monitoring the situation and is in close contact with national authorities in China. WHO risk assessment There is limited information to determine the overall risk of this reported cluster of pneumonia of unknown etiology. The reported link to a wholesale fish and live animal market could indicate an exposure link to animals. The symptoms reported among the patients are common to several respiratory diseases, and pneumonia is common in the winter season; however, the occurrence of 44 cases of pneumonia requiring hospitalization clustered in space and time should be handled prudently. Wuhan city, with a population of 19 million, is the capital city of Hubei province, with a population of 58 million people. WHO has requested further information on the laboratory tests performed and the differential diagnoses considered. WHO advice Based on information provided by national authorities, WHO’s recommendations on public health measures and surveillance of influenza and severe acute respiratory infections still apply. WHO does not recommend any specific measures for travellers. In case of symptoms suggestive of respiratory illness either during or after travel, travellers are encouraged to seek medical attention and share travel history with their healthcare provider. WHO advises against the application of any travel or trade restrictions on China based on the current information available on this event. https://www.who.int/csr/don/05-january-2020-pneumonia-of-unkown-cause-china/en/

Wuhan Municipal Health Committee's report on unexplained viral pneumonia Issuing authority: Wuhan City health committee | Published: 2020-01-05 20:33:24 | Hits: 76737 | Font Size: Tai Zhong Small Since December 31, 2019, our committee has carried out search and retrospective investigation of viral pneumonia cases of unknown cause in the city. As of 8:00 on January 5, 2020, a total of 59 patients with unexplained diagnosis of viral pneumonia were reported in our city, including 7 critically ill patients, and the remaining patients' overall vital signs were stable. At present, all patients are being isolated in medical institutions in Wuhan Treatment, no deaths. Among the 59 patients, the earliest onset of the case was December 12, 2019, and the latest onset was December 29; 163 close contacts have been followed up for medical observation, and the follow-up of close contacts is still in progress . An epidemiological survey showed that some patients were operating households in Wuhan South China Seafood City (South China Seafood Wholesale Market). As of now, preliminary investigations have shown no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission and no medical staff infections. Respiratory pathogens such as influenza, avian influenza, adenovirus, infectious atypical pneumonia ( SARS) and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) have been excluded . Pathogen identification and cause tracing are still underway. At present, with the support of the state and Hubei Province, Wuhan has adopted the following main prevention and control measures: First, it is to treat patients with all its strength. The second is to carry out isolation treatment for all cases. The third is to continue to conduct relevant case searches and retrospective investigations in medical institutions throughout the city. The fourth is to carry out close contact tracking seriously, implement medical observation on the close contacts that have been tracked according to regulations, and have not found any abnormal symptoms such as fever. Fifth, we will take measures to suspend the market for South China Seafood City, and carry out environmental sanitation and further hygiene investigations. Sixth, actively carry out epidemiological investigations. Seventh, cooperate with the state and province to carry out pathogen identification (including nucleic acid detection and virus isolation and culture) and trace the cause of the cause, and the prevention and control work is proceeding in an orderly manner. Experts advise that the city is currently in the season of high incidence of infectious diseases in winter and spring. Citizens should pay attention to maintaining indoor air circulation, avoiding closed and airless public places and crowded places, and wear masks if necessary. If you have fever, respiratory infection symptoms, especially persistent fever, go to a medical institution in time. http://wjw.wuhan.gov.cn/front/web/showDetail/2020010509020

Wuhan Municipal Health and Health Commission's Report on Unexplained Viral Pneumonia Issuing authority: Wuhan City health committee | Published: 2020-01-03 17:00:42 | Hits: 46388 | Font Size: Tai Zhong Small Since December 2019 , our committee has carried out surveillance of respiratory diseases and related diseases, and found cases of viral pneumonia of unknown cause. The clinical manifestations of the cases are mainly fever, a few patients have difficulty breathing, and chest radiographs show bilateral lung infiltrative lesions. As of 8:00 on January 3, 2020, a total of 44 patients with unexplained diagnosis of viral pneumonia were found, of which 11 were critically ill, and the remaining patients' overall vital signs were stable. At present, all cases are receiving isolation treatment in Wuhan medical institutions. 121 close contacts have been tracked and medical observations have been tracked. The follow-up of close contacts is still in progress. An epidemiological survey showed that some cases were operating households in Wuhan South China Seafood City. As of now, preliminary investigations have shown no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission and no medical staff infections. Pathogen identification (including nucleic acid detection and virus isolation and culture) and cause tracing are ongoing, and common respiratory diseases such as influenza, avian influenza, and adenovirus infection have been ruled out. After the outbreak, the State and Provincial Health and Health Commission attached great importance to it and sent working groups and expert teams to Wuhan to guide the local epidemic response and disposal work. Wuhan Municipal Health and Health Commission has conducted relevant case searches and retrospective investigations in medical institutions throughout the city, and has completed the environmental sanitation disposal of South China Seafood City, and further hygiene investigations are ongoing. January 3, 2020 http://wjw.wuhan.gov.cn/front/web/showDetail/2020010309017

Wuhan Municipal Health and Health Commission's briefing on the current pneumonia epidemic situation in our city Issuing authority: Wuhan City health committee | Published: 2019-12-31 13:38:05 | Hits: 73 223 | Font Size: Tai Zhong Small Recently, some medical institutions found that many of the pneumonia cases received were related to South China Seafood City. After receiving the report, the Municipal Health and Health Commission immediately launched a case search and retrospective investigation related to South China Seafood City in the city's medical and health institutions. Twenty-seven cases have been found , of which 7 are in serious condition, and the remaining cases are stable and controllable. Two patients are expected to be discharged in the near future. The clinical manifestations of the cases were mainly fever, a few patients had difficulty breathing, and chest radiographs showed bilateral lung infiltrative lesions. At present, all cases have been isolated for treatment, follow-up investigations and medical observations of close contacts are ongoing, and hygiene investigations and environmental sanitation disposals for South China Seafood City are ongoing. Wuhan organized consultations with clinical medical, epidemiological, and virological experts from Tongji Hospital, Provincial CDC, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan Infectious Diseases Hospital, and Wuhan CDC. According to the analysis of epidemiological investigations and preliminary laboratory tests, the above cases are considered to be viral pneumonia. Investigations so far have not revealed any apparent human-to-human transmission or infection by medical staff. Detection of the pathogen and investigation of the cause of the infection are ongoing. Viral pneumonia is more common in winter and spring, and can be spread or outbreak. The clinical manifestations are fever, soreness, dyspnea in a small part, and lung infiltration. Viral pneumonia is related to the virulence of the virus, the route of infection, and the age and immune status of the host. Viruses that cause viral pneumonia are common with influenza viruses, others are parainfluenza virus, cytomegalovirus, adenovirus, rhinovirus, and coronavirus. Confirmation depends on pathogenic tests, including virus isolation, serological tests, and viral antigen and nucleic acid tests. The disease is preventable and controllable, and indoor air circulation can be prevented to prevent closed and airless public places and crowded places. Masks can be worn when going out. Symptomatic treatment is the main clinical practice, and bed rest is required. If you have the above symptoms, especially the persistent fever, you should go to the medical institution in time. December 31, 2019 http://wjw.wuhan.gov.cn/front/web/showDetail/2019123108989

Hayes Luk @hayesluk · Jan 5 5th Jan Wuhan official report 1. 59 cases, 7 of them are severe, no ones are killed by the pneumonia. 2. SARS and MERS are now ruled out, not yet for novel #coronavirus. 3. No obvious #h2h evidence.

New Virus Discovered by Chinese Scientists Investigating Pneumonia Outbreak Latest tally of people sickened in Wuhan is 59, with seven in a critical condition Public-health officials in Bangkok hand out disease-monitoring information after performing thermal scans on passengers arriving from Wuhan, China, on Wednesday. Photo: Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images By Natasha Khan Updated Jan. 8, 2020 8:04 am ET Save print Text HONG KONG—Chinese scientists investigating a mystery illness that has sickened dozens in central China have discovered a new strain of coronavirus, a development that will test the country’s upgraded capabilities for dealing with unfamiliar infectious diseases. The novel coronavirus was genetically sequenced from a sample from one patient and subsequently found in some of the others affected in the city of Wuhan, according to people familiar with the findings. Chinese authorities haven’t concluded that the strain is the underlying cause of sickness in all the patients who have been isolated in Wuhan since the infection first broke out in early December, the people said. There are many known coronaviruses—some can cause ailments like common colds in humans, while others don’t affect humans at all. Some—such as severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in 2003—have led to deadly outbreaks, lending urgency to efforts to contain the current situation. High Alert Some past coronavirus outbreaks, such as SARS and MERS, have had high death rates. Yet, there is no suggestion this new illness would cause such issues so far. SARS MERS* 8,098 2,468 Cases Deaths 774 851 Death rate 9.6% 34.5% When 2002-2003 2012- Where first reported China Saudi Arabia *As of September 2019 Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization The number of reported cases of viral pneumonia in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, was 59 on Sunday, rising from 27 on Dec. 31, according to Wuhan’s Municipal Health Commission, with seven people in a critical condition. No deaths have been reported. The disease afflicting patients in Wuhan hasn’t been transmitted from human to human, and health-care workers have remained uninfected, according to city health officials as of Jan. 5, suggesting that what is sickening them is for now less virulent than SARS. Those ill in Wuhan are believed to have become sick through exposure to animals linked to a live seafood and animal market. Health experts say one risk is that the disease could become a bigger threat as tens of millions of Chinese travel around the country during the Lunar New Year holidays that begin in just over two weeks. Health authorities in Singapore and Hong Kong, cities that have direct flights from Wuhan, have issued alerts and quarantined patients travelling from the region who show signs of fever or breathing difficulties. In Hong Kong on Tuesday, the government said it was taking precautions against a “severe respiratory disease associated with a novel infectious agent” that it is seeking to make a statutory notifiable infectious disease, meaning doctors would need to report any suspected cases, and patients evading quarantine could be fined or jailed. A visitor walked past a large photo depicting the 2003 SARS epidemic at an exhibition, ‘40 Years Through the Lens,’ at the National Museum of China, in Beijing, September 2018. Photo: wu hong/EPA/Shutterstock The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to make an announcement of its findings in the coming days, a person familiar with the matter said. The CDC couldn’t be reached for comment late Tuesday. China was criticized for initially covering up SARS, which was first detected in late 2002 but was disclosed only after it began spreading widely, eventually killing 774 people globally, according to the World Health Organization. Beijing overhauled the nation’s disease control after reviews found that initial failures to contain and isolate patients with SARS allowed it to proliferate across densely populated Southern China. The Wuhan outbreak will test how much has changed. “We learned a bitter lesson in 2003, and we do not want that to happen again,” said Alex Lam, chairman of advocacy group Hong Kong Patients’ Voices. “China should immediately release their findings so doctors across the world can better know how to tackle this illness.” Hong Kong’s department of health, citing information from China’s National Health Commission, said the cause of the cluster of pneumonia cases detected in Wuhan was still under investigation, but other known respiratory pathogens had been ruled out. The main clinical symptoms of those affected by the Wuhan outbreak are fever—with a few patients having difficulty breathing—and invasive lesions of both lungs, which show up on chest radiographs, the WHO said Sunday. A mourner wearing a mask to ward off SARS under an umbrella during the funeral of a SARS doctor in Hong Kong in 2003. Photo: bobby yip/Reuters It is unclear what the underlying source of the disease is, though the reported link to a wholesale fish and live animal market could indicate an exposure link to animals, the WHO said. Bats, for example, are known “reservoirs” for coronaviruses, and have been found to transmit the disease to humans through a third vector such as a civet cat, as scientists found in the case of SARS. The pattern of the unexplained pneumonia cases linked to the market selling seafood and also live game strongly suggests that this is a novel microbe jumping from animal to human, said K.Y. Yuen, Chair Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Medicine. Researchers have determined that a large proportion of new infectious diseases in humans are transmitted via animals. Such illnesses are referred to as zoonoses. Two newer human coronaviruses, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, have been known to cause severe illness and death, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The Wuhan strain is similar to bat coronaviruses that were a precursor to SARS, according to a person familiar with the new findings. Given the marked advances in hospital isolation facilities, infection-control training and laboratory diagnostic capabilities in the past two decades, it is unlikely that this outbreak will lead to a major 2003-like epidemic, Mr. Yuen said. In Wuhan, which has China’s first Biosafety Level 4 laboratory—a specialized research laboratory that deals with potentially deadly infectious agents like Ebola—the market at the center of investigations has been shut down since Jan 1. In Hong Kong, badly hit by the SARS virus, which claimed 299 lives locally in 2003, residents have donned surgical masks on the streets and public transport in recent days, despite no local cases of the Wuhan infection being confirmed. —Stephanie Yang contributed to this article. Write to Natasha Khan at [email protected] https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-virus-discovered-by-chinese-scientists-investigating-pneumonia-outbreak-11578485668?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=2

Report post (IP: 73.214.85.79) Posted 1 hour ago Wuhan pneumonia epidemic-related market closed, animal viscera scattered on street corners 2020 at 18:26 on January 1st From the test results obtained so far, there is a very small possibility that cannot be ruled out, but it is really very inclined not to be SARS coronavirus. The homology is very low, with less than 4% gene coverage, making it impossible to judge. Need to test again. https://k.sina.com.cn/article_1315590387_4e6a50f301900p0k6.html?from=news&subch=onews

Media reports in China and US are suggesting that a novel coronavirus is associated with the "mystery" pneumonia cases being reported in Wuhan.

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TABLE. E-cigarette, or vaping, product use characteristics of interviewed e-cigarette, or vaping, product use–associated lung injury (EVALI) patients (N = 58) — Minnesota, 2019 Product use characteristics (no. with available information if <58) No. (%) Illicit THC-containing products Any use* 53 (91) Exclusive use 13 (22) Prefilled cartridges† 47 (81) Nicotine-containing products Any use 41 (71) Exclusive use 2 (3) Nicotine use, without illicit THC 3 (5) Any use, both illicit THC- and nicotine-containing products 37 (64) Both illicit THC- and nicotine-containing products only 26 (45) CBD-containing products Any use 14 (24) CBD oil products, with illicit THC and nicotine 8 (14) CBD oil with illicit THC 3 (5) CBD and nicotine 1 (2) Other product combinations§ Illicit THC brand usage Any use Dank Vapes¶ 39 (67) Used Dank Vapes exclusively, with no other THC brands 11 (19) Did not use Dank Vapes, but used other THC brands** 6 (10) Solely used Dank Vapes, no other THC brand, nicotine, or CBD oil 2 (3) Illicit THC- and nicotine-containing product use frequency†† Daily use of THC-containing products (49) 37 (76) Daily use of nicotine-containing products (40) 32 (80) Illicit THC- and nicotine-containing product use duration†† >1-year use of THC-containing products (37) 19 (51) >1-year use of nicotine-containing products (31) 22 (71) Abbreviations: CBD = cannabidiol; THC = tetrahydrocannabinol. * Three patients reported use of CBD and THC only. Two additional patients did not report THC during interview, but testing of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid or product confirmed exposure to THC. † Prefilled cartridge use was unknown for six respondents who used illicit THC. § Nicotine and unknown homemade oil (one, laboratory testing confirmed THC and vitamin E acetate present in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid); CBD and unknown (one, laboratory testing of product confirmed THC and vitamin E acetate in unlabeled cartridge); and illicit THC, nicotine, and prescribed THC products supplied by a medical marijuana dispensary (two). ¶ Dank Vapes are a class of largely counterfeit THC-containing products of unknown provenance that are marketed under a common name and distributed through informal sources. ** EVALI patients reported using these non-Dank Vapes brands: Banks Extracts (one), Cannaclear (one), Chronic (one), Cookie Cart (one), Dabwoods (one), King Pin (one), Off White (two), Runtz (one), Sauce Extracts (one), TKO Extracts (two), and West Coast Cure (one). Cartridge or brand use was unknown for eight respondents who used illicit THC. †† Information on brand of THC-containing product and THC use duration and frequency was not available for all patients.