Patient information missing for vast majority of COVID-19 cases
(VOVWORLD) - Australia's national science agency has found that patient information is missing for the vast majority of COVID-19 cases recorded around the world.
 A COVID-19 patient is treated in Bologna, Italy. (Photo: Xinhua/VNA) |
In a study published on Tuesday, researchers from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), quoted by Xinhua News Agency as saying that 95.5% of cases entered into GISAID - the world's largest coronavirus genome database - do not include relevant patient information.
S. S. Vasan, a senior author of the study and the CSIRO's Dangerous Pathogens Team Leader, said it was critically important to collect the "patient journey" of confirmed cases to help understand the evolution of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The research team urgently needs patient data associated with these virus genome sequences in order to decipher whether disease outcomes are due to a mutation, or multiple mutations, or to host factors such as age, gender, and co-morbidities.