The scientist has been dealing with viruses for many years.
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(Photo: Reuters)
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Dusseldorf It was Maria van Kerkhove who, in mid-January, when the coronavirus was hardly known to anyone, announced: “A limited transmission from person to person is possible.” Since then, the epidemiologist for infectious diseases at the World Health Organization (WHO) has been one of the most present Scientists in the pandemic.
Now the 43-year-old has caused a stir again at a virtual press conference from the headquarters in Geneva: “It still seems rare that an asymptomatic person actually passes the virus on,” said van Kerkhove.
That means: people without fever, cough and shortness of breath are not the drivers of the pandemic. Van Kerkhove has been dealing with viruses for many years – she was one of her research priorities while studying at Stanford and at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Even those that trigger respiratory diseases. In 2009, the American who grew up in New York investigated the transmission of avian influenza H1N1 from poultry to humans in Cambodia.
Since 2017 she has been working permanently for the WHO – among other things as head of a “task force” to research the so-called MERS corona virus, which spread in 2012 in the Middle East.
Convincing appearance
In an interview with the US newspaper “The Hill”, she once told of her passion for researching viruses: “I love the way detective work on it.” Van Kerkhove’s knowledge of emerging viruses, the transmission of animals to humans, the rapid paths of propagation is enormous. Those who follow their conferences at the WHO quickly notice how convincing the scientist is.
And yet: There are other voices that assess the risk of infection from people with positive symptoms of corona without symptoms as much greater. About two scientists from the American College for Physicians in California. In a study published a few days ago, they said that people without symptoms could still transmit SARS-Cov-2 for up to two weeks.
If you are right, nobody can say at the moment, not even the experienced virologist van Kerkhove: “We are constantly checking the data and trying to get more information from the countries to really answer this question,” she said only on Monday.
More: The latest developments in the corona virus in the news blog.
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