Xiamen implements the same inspection of characters, and fish and shrimp also need to do nucleic acid. Is this practice scientific? See what the experts say

This summer, the outbreak of the epidemic, especially the epidemic in Hainan, refreshed many of us, and made us realize the importance of all-round prevention and control by sea, land and air. However, there are still loopholes in epidemic prevention and control in coastal areas.

In view of this, Xiamen has recently implemented the prevention and control policy of the same inspection of people. For fishermen returning from the sea and salvaged fish and shrimp, nucleic acid testing must be carried out. For a while on the Internet, videos and pictures of medical staff holding nucleic acid collection swabs and inserting nucleic acid collection swabs into the wide-mouthed fish's mouth to collect nucleic acid from the pharynx of fish were widely circulated on the Internet. Many people laughed at this, but if you think about it, give fish What is the scientific basis for shrimp to make nucleic acid? Today we will talk about this issue.

Nucleic acid for fish and shrimp has scientific basis

The reason for the outbreak in Hainan was precisely because the fishermen were infected by trading with overseas fishermen after going out to sea. We cannot completely prohibit fishermen from going out to fish, nor can we prevent fishermen from contacting and trading with overseas fishermen after they go out to sea, so it is necessary to carry out nucleic acid testing on fishermen and the fish they bring back.

I still remember that there were reports that the COVID-19 virus was detected on the surface of objects and cold-chain food as early as the year before last, and the fish and shrimp caught by fishermen going out to sea or the fish and shrimp traded with overseas fishermen were all affected by COVID-19. 19 Risk of viral contamination. Because the fish and shrimp need to be kept fresh after boarding the ship, and the preservation environment happens to be the favorite living environment of the COVID-19 virus, low temperature and humidity. We try to treat these fish and shrimp as an item or a cold chain food , which is easier to understand. Therefore, making nucleic acid for fish and shrimp is also an important part of China's foreign import prevention and control policy, which has scientific basis. .

The practice of poking fish's mouth to make nucleic acid lacks scientific basis

Since there is a scientific basis for making nucleic acid for fish and shrimp, then we should talk about how to do it. First of all, let's talk about whether there is a scientific basis for the practice of nucleic acid collection of throat swabs for fish on the Internet?

We all know that the breathing of fish is different from that of us. The respiratory organs of fish are in the gills , just like people breathe through the oropharynx and nasopharynx. Therefore, if nucleic acid testing is performed on live fish, samples should also be taken from the gills. detection. And fish do not have lungs. In theory, fish will not be infected with the COVID-19 virus, because the binding of the COVID-19 virus to the host is mainly a receptor called ACE2 on the cell surface. The ACE2 structure was modeled and analyzed, and the results showed that there are many differences in the ACE2 receptors of different species. The ACE2 receptors of various mammals can bind to the COVID-19 virus, while most birds, reptiles and fish Classes are not easy to combine.

In addition, the COVID-19 virus is mainly transmitted through droplets and hand contact . From the perspective of transmission, it is the droplets or hands of fishermen who come into contact with the fish to contaminate the fish with the COVID-19 virus, so the main contamination site must be On the body of the fish, not the gills, because the fish that have just gone out to sea will definitely not be infected with the COVID-19 virus, so the video pictures on the Internet for fish throat swab nucleic acid detection lack scientific basis, and the correct detection method should be It is sampled from fish body parts . But if you look at it from the perspective of news dissemination, it is understandable, because such video pictures can attract people's attention more.

In short, under the current situation of epidemic prevention and control at home and abroad, because China has a vast coastline and a large number of fishermen, if the management is not standardized, it is difficult to effectively prevent foreign imports. After each batch or ship of fish comes ashore, people and fish need to undergo nucleic acid testing first, and they can be released after being negative, so as to block the loopholes in epidemic prevention and control from the sea to the greatest extent possible, and also allow people to live inside People in Lu can eat safe seafood.