INTERVIEW
The coronavirus has left 26 dead for 830 infected people in China since its appearance in the Wuhan region, where quarantine measures have been taken. Despite this, WHO has not declared an international emergency. Rightly so, according to Yazdan Yazdanpanah, the head of the infectious diseases department at Bichat Hospital and also an expert with the WHO. “I think we must take this virus seriously and put in place interventions, but we must not be worried, we have the weapons to contain the epidemic”, reassures Europe 1 the director of the institute of infectiology at Inserm. France is moreover ready to face this kind of disease.
Several cases have been identified in countries other than China: Japan, South Korea, Vietnam. Suspicious cases have also been reported in the United States. “Since people are traveling, the virus could also appear in Europe,” said Yazdan Yazdanpanah, “but that does not mean that there will be an epidemic. The cases can be imported but not transmitted.”
International state of emergency has major economic impacts
If the international emergency has not been declared by the WHO, it is primarily because no epidemic has been noted elsewhere in the world than in Wuhan, explains the head of the infectious diseases department at the Bichat hospital. Furthermore, such a decision has great consequences. “There are societal, economic, political impacts. It is not easy. Since 2009, there have been four: for Ebola, Zika and H1N1. Measures have been taken, such as quarantine, but WHO don’t want to rush. ” In 2003, the state of emergency linked to SARS cost $ 53 billion.
Symptoms of the virus are similar to those of the flu: fever, headache, in the muscles and joints, difficulty breathing. But be careful not to give in to the excitement. “Even if you have similar signs, if you did not travel to the epicenter of the epidemic, you did not catch this virus”, specifies Yazdan Yazdanpanah. Who believes that quarantine is a good solution to contain an epidemic like this.
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