INTERVIEW
As the Chinese coronavirus epidemic rages around the world, and the first European cases were detected on Friday in France, the memory of SARS of 2003 is on everyone’s mind. But health professionals want to reassure: for now, the coronavirus is doing much less damage. “It looks less severe than SARS if we look at the number of people died compared to the number of cases”, confirms Professor Gilles Pialoux, head of the infectious and tropical diseases department of Tenon hospital in Paris, on Europe 1 Saturday evening.
“Of course there is concern from the moment there are cases”, three in number in France, recognizes the specialist. And it is still necessary “to see all the people in contact with these three cases”. But the patients already diagnosed “are fine” and “it must be remembered that [même] SARS has claimed fewer deaths worldwide than influenza [chaque année] in France “. In other words, this coronavirus is far from being the number 1 threat to the health of French people.
Lessons learned from SARS
Professor Gilles Pialoux has other arguments to reassure. First, no need to panic in case of fever. “The criteria to be a suspect case include contact with a person coming from the endemic area”, therefore from China, he recalls. In addition, “for the moment, there is no demonstration that it is anything other than a proximity transmission, by droplets”. The coronavirus “does not fly in the sky”, summarizes the specialist. “On a plane, it’s the person next door [d’un malade] that presents risks, not the whole plane. “
For those who would like to be reassured, Gilles Pialoux recalls that “there is always time to get the flu vaccine”. Finally, lessons have been learned since the SARS epidemic. “The sharing of scientific information goes very quickly, this is a reassuring factor. We learned the consequences of SARS. This does not mean that the system is perfect but we are training, the systems [de prise en charge d’une pandémie] are activated regularly. “
–
