7:01 a.m.
, on March 15, 2020, modified at
7:10 a.m.
, March 15, 2020
Almost every day, a publication from China, Korea or Italy sheds light on a facet of the coronavirus. But this pathogen, which emerged at the end of 2019 in the city of Wuhan, in China, remains a big unknown for infectious disease specialists or resuscitators, now “at war” against severe pneumonia.
Read also – Coronavirus: “In the fall, we would not face one, but two epidemics
1 – How do you catch it?
By inhaling the droplets emitted when a patient coughs or by touching surfaces contaminated by these secretions, before putting his hand to his face. The coronavirus survives for several hours on a meeting table or a doorknob.
2 – What are the symptoms of the disease?
The two most common are dry cough and fever. Sometimes accompanied by extreme fatigue, pain in the limbs, headache, difficulty breathing or diarrhea. In general, the patient does not have the nose taken as during a cold. The average incubation period is approximately six days.
3 – What to do in case of signs?
In case of signs, call your GP to make an appointment or possibly schedule a telemedicine consultation. In case of great difficulty in breathing, very significant shortness of breath, call 15; in case of a life-threatening emergency, on 112. In addition, a free information number is available seven days a week and 24 hours a day: 0800 130 000.
4 – Is this virus really dangerous?
Admittedly, many people catch it without noticing it (35% of the passengers of the Diamond Princess have tested positive without symptoms). And about 80% of patients get better after a few days. “They recover spontaneously without the intervention of a doctor,” this week told the New England Journal of Medicine website Anthony Fauci, immunologist and historical adviser to American presidents. But in 15% of cases, the disease takes a severe form (pneumonia), usually on the seventh day, requiring hospitalization; and in 5% of cases, it takes a critical form (respiratory or multiple organ failure, septic shock). The other danger of the virus is that it is very contagious: an affected person contaminates on average 2.3 others (1.3 for the flu) if no measures are taken to stop its spread.
5 – Who risks dying?
Even if it is too early to know the mortality rate (estimated at 1 to 2%), this virus seems more “killer” than that of the flu (ten times more, according to current estimates). Age and illness (heart, diabetes, etc.) increase the risk of suffering from a severe respiratory infection. The most comprehensive analysis to date, covering 45,000 confirmed cases in China, shows that mortality increases markedly with age (14.8% in those over 80 years of age compared with 0.4% in those in their forties). These days, French clinicians note in their hospital departments that thirty-somethings and quadras previously in shape are going through difficult times. Just like in China a few weeks ago.
6 – How to protect yourself and others?
Some smiled when Emmanuel Macron advocated hand washing Thursday evening during his televised speech. It is however the major tool in the fight against the spread of the virus. Just like avoiding shaking hands, touching his face, and thinking of coughing in his elbow. The second is the social distancing dear to Anglo-Saxons. In other words, social distancing, rather slight, as in France since Thursday evening, or maximalist and effective, as with Chinese confinement. This is imperative in the absence of treatment or vaccine. “Viruses trigger epidemics,” says British virologist Elisabetta Groppelli, “but people keep them and can stop them.” These drastic measures had a major effect in Wuhan, the cradle of the pandemic, as well as during the epidemics of Ebola in Africa or the Spanish flu from 1918.
7 – How to protect your loved ones if you are sick?
The virus often strikes several people in the same family. “In my service, relatives of hospitalized patients have also been affected, sometimes even severely, observes Professor Jean-François Timsit, head of the resuscitation service at Bichat hospital in Paris. We wonder if there is has no genetic susceptibility. ” Also, the relatives of a housebound patient must take precautions. British authorities advise to make a room, hand towel and toothbrush apart, to use a bathroom other than those close to her or to clean it. And, of course, wear a mask and not receive visitors. Even with mild symptoms, you should isolate yourself for fourteen days (maximum incubation time).
8 – Why not test everyone more?
While a country like Korea, at the forefront of the fight against the epidemic, has embarked on a massive screening campaign (more than 220,000 people), France is now concentrating its efforts to test around 1,200 patients every day. According to the Director General of Health, Jérôme Salomon, priority patients are defined “by logic and common sense”. “We must test all serious cases, all new groupings of cases, in places at risk such as hospitals or any new territory of circulation, or health professionals,” he said. For people in bed at home, we assume that it is an attack of the new coronavirus. This does not prevent, according to the authorities, from knowing its progress across the country thanks to the network of Sentinel doctors, responsible each winter for detecting the arrival of the flu. Professor of epidemiology William Dab, former director general of health, believes that a series of tests should be performed, regularly, on a representative sample of the French population of at least 1,000 people. “The number of people affected is much larger than that given at present,” he said. “We are blind to the penetration rate in the population, and it is a shame.”
9 – Why does the virus spare children?
For the moment, we ignore it, and several hypotheses have been put forward. “For them, any infection is a new infection,” says Sharon Nachman, a professor of pediatrics in the New York area. They see so many illnesses in their early years that their immune systems are up and running and responds well to this new virus. ” “It is not very clear but, in my opinion, [les symptômes légers] are linked to the basic biology of the virus and the types of cells it infects, “said British virologist Ian Jones.
10 – Will we quickly find a treatment?
For the moment, there is none, and the white coats are content to treat the symptoms, but a global race is launched with several avenues of research. A European clinical trial is starting, which will bring together 3,200 hospitalized patients (including 800 in France). The effectiveness of three antivirals will be compared to conventional treatment (oxygen, ventilation, etc.). The Chinese track of chloroquine, an old antimalarial effective in vitro, was not retained because of a risk of side effects. “But if in vivo we show that there is an efficiency, notes professor of infectiology Yazdan Yazdanpanah, we could [l’]In the meantime, the health authorities urged the patients on Saturday not to take ibuprofen or other anti-inflammatory drugs, which could worsen the infection, while recommending the use of paracetamol in case of fever.
–
