Yesterday someone asked a question about the meaning of isolating the virus. I am sharing the question and my reply here, considering that it would be helpful to the visitors of this blog as well.
Question: Can you please help me understand what is the meaning of isolating the virus? I mean, what does it mean? How should it be done?
Reply: Isolating or extracting something means separating it from other components usually present in the natural environment. It is a standard process or practice to obtain a purified component for further study or larger use. For example, most, if not all, metals such as gold, copper, uranium are isolated/extracted from their ores.
The process of isolation may be explained as follows. If one takes sugar cane, crushes it, squeezes it to get the juice out, and then concentrates it by boiling. Leaving the concentrate at room temperature will result in the crystallization of sugar as pure white particles. Thus, the process would be called the isolation of sugar from sugar cane.
Concerning the virus, it means that the virus has been separated from the content of the swab sample. In the end, virus as particles should be available in a test tube or vial. This purified specimen should be used to develop test methods, study illness, and develop treatments, including vaccines.
Unfortunately, this isolation part for the virus has never been done. Hence no pure isolated specimen is available. Therefore, neither tests for the virus can be developed nor the treatments, including vaccines.
Stating otherwise is simply spreading misinformation and promoting fake science.