The first cases in Europe have been confirmed. Health authorities must catch the speed bug to prevent an epidemic from spreading.
The news fell Friday, January 24 in the early evening: three cases of the new Chinese coronavirus were confirmed in France. According to French health authorities, two of these “first European cases” are currently being treated in Paris and a third in Bordeaux.
In China, 1,287 cases have been recorded since the epidemic broke out in Wuhan, in the center of the country, 41 people died from the disease and more than 56 million inhabitants are confined to try to stop the epidemic.
While no fatal cases have been reported outside of China, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that it was premature to consider this epidemic as a public health emergency of international concern. In France, it is therefore advisable not to sink into paranoia. “At this stage, there are no specific recommendations for the population ” French, says the Ministry of Health on his website. However, here are some recommendations that can, in any case, protect you from the seasonal flu.
1What are the symptoms ?
The symptoms of this new virus are similar to those of the flu. According to observations made on the first 41 cases identified in China, the effects of this coronavirus are also close to those of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), which killed 774 people worldwide (out of 8,096 cases) in 2002 and 2003 : pneumonia, fever, cough, difficulty breathing and general fatigue.
2How to tell the difference with a flu?
You cough ? Do you have congested bronchi? Breathing difficulties? Fatigue? Fever ? If you have not recently traveled to China, you are likely to suffer from seasonal flu.
Outside of China, “in all the countries where cases have been registered, there has been no secondary case, that is to say, no person secondarily infected in the entourage of the imported case”, specifies at World the head of the epidemiology unit for emerging diseases at the Pasteur Institute, Arnaud Fontanet. So, “the determining criterion is therefore contact with the origin in China”.
3Should we go to the emergency room?
No. If you are not returning from a trip to China, take good care of yourself. Your general practitioner will prescribe the appropriate treatment. Going to the emergency room in this case would only needlessly clutter these services.
Likewise, if you have traveled to China and you see the slightest sign of difficulty in breathing or have a fever, “don’t go to the emergency room, don’t call a doctor “, warned Agnès Buzyn, the Minister of Health, during a press conference. “You have to call center 15, who picks up people at home and takes them to hospital.” On the phone, it is of course necessary to detail his symptoms and to mention his recent trip to China.
This precaution “allows people to be isolated, to be tested. If the tests are positive, they are kept under surveillance. If the tests are negative, they come out “, she explained.
4How do you get coronavirus?
We know that the virus can be transmitted from one person to another. Coronavirus pneumonia 2019-nCoV “is transmitted by postillions (sneezing, coughing)”, as the reminds the Ministry of Health. “In general, transmissions are made in close contacts, less than a meter, through the postillions and by respiratory route”, explains on Franceinfo Professor Yazdan Yazdanpanah, head of the infectious diseases department at Bichat hospital in Paris, director of the Institute of infectiology at Inserm and expert with the WHO. If the virus arrives in France, “we can continue to kiss each other. But we must be vigilant”, specifies the specialist, who sees “an opportunity to get messages across to people with respiratory signs, coughing, spitting, etc. It’s good to wear a mask.”
To contract the coronavirus, “there must have been close contact [avec une personne infectée]”, underlines Arnaud Fontanet in The world. “They were also accused, without being able to verify it, of doorknobs and elevator buttons. Hence the importance of washing your hands and not putting them in your mouth.”
Thus, the health authorities are carrying out an epidemiological investigation to identify all the people who may have been in contact with the three patients and isolate them while removing any contamination, the ministry said. “For an infected person, there can be several dozen contact cases which must then be followed for fourteen days, the maximum duration of incubation of the virus. These people must stay at home, take their temperature twice a day and prevent health services if they have a fever “, explains the specialist quoted by the newspaper.
5How dangerous is the virus?
“There have been 1,300 cases and 41 deaths: this means that 1,260 people have healed, or will heal”, Relativizes Bruno Lina, professor of virology at the University Hospital of Lyon and the International Center for Research in Infectious Disease, cited by franceinfo. “Our immune system allows us to heal in the vast majority of cases of these respiratory viruses. (…) But we are not all equal before this virus: preliminary data currently show that children are not affected”, he continues. “We have extremely few, if any children and even young adults under the age of 25, since we have practically no cases. There are many simple forms of this infection”, Specifies the specialist.
“In cases of severe forms, these are people with more fragile chronic, cardiac, respiratory, neurological pathologies. This is somewhat similar to what we observe with the flu”, he adds, explaining that vulnerable people are more likely to develop a severe form of the disease. “We don’t know exactly how serious it is”, Says Professor Yazdan Yazdanpanah. “We have made a lot of progress since 2012-2013, but there is still no treatment for coronavirus, He explains to franceinfo. On the other hand, symptomatic treatments can be put in place which can greatly reduce mortality. “
Finally, the specialist notes that this virus should be easier to stop than an influenza epidemic. “With the coronavirus, one is contagious from the day when one has symptoms. The flu, one day before the symptoms. So the coronavirus, if it is confirmed, is much easier to stop than, for example, a virus of influenza.”
6What are the good preventive actions to adopt?
“As with the current episode of seasonal flu, barrier measures are effective”, says the Ministry of Health. Coughing in your elbow, using single-use tissues and washing your hands regularly are the best things you can do to protect yourself from viruses in general.
7Should we wear a mask?
No need to wear a surgical mask if you are in good shape, says the Ministry of Health. However, you can wear one if you have flu-like symptoms to avoid spreading your virus, even if it is a classic winter virus.
If you have traveled to Asia, have symptoms of respiratory infection (fever, cough, difficulty breathing) and you need to get in touch with other people (at home for example), the ministry of foreign affairs invite you to wear this type of mask, available in pharmacies.
8Are French hospitals prepared for the possibility of a multiplication of cases?
“We are ready, yes, reassure him professor of virology Bruno Lina at the microphone of Franceinfo. Dince the viral and bacterial emergencies that we have had since 2003, a whole series of organizations have been put in place so that hospitals are equipped with isolation rooms, so as to welcome these patients in good conditions. conditions and help avoid spreading the disease to other people. ” According to him, the analyzes are now carried out “practically in real time”, allowing to act quickly.
“And referral hospitals can adaptHe continues. At the CHU de Lyon, for example, we have the capacity to develop the structure so as to block an entire service wing in a vacuum zone. “
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