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Cough, fatigue … were French patients able to catch the coronavirus at the start of winter?

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“We wonder” … Fever, heavy fatigue, cough. Symptoms which, in full pandemic, inevitably make think of the coronavirus. Some former patients are now asking questions about what they contracted before the arrival of Covid-19 in Europe. Dr Elise Noel-Savina, head of intensive care in pulmonology at the Toulouse University Hospital wants to be cautious and invites us to “not make short cuts”.

Fever, cough. And a loss of taste and smell. A clinical picture described by many coronavirus patients. Eric, a 57-year-old pharmacist also suffered from these symptoms at the end of November 2019. Two months before the official arrival of the virus on French territory. With his partner, they do not wish to “make sensationalism”, but wonder.

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“Eric immediately said that he did not have the flu. He did blood tests that showed an infection, but we do not know which one. Then everything went back to normal, explains Laure. “Wasn’t worried more than that. It was winter …” But when they heard testimonies from coronavirus patients who lost their noses, they began to doubt. Laure decided to write to the Sentinelles network, one of whose objectives is to set up clinical and epidemiological studies.

In the return mail, a doctor thanked her for her testimony, however, clarifying that “munfortunately, no examination will make it possible to conclude with the cause of this episode, and the fact that your friend could have contracted the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 last November “. An answer which does not satisfy Laure hardly:” It is not very scientific. However, from a science perspective, it’s important to know what happened. ”

The fiftieth continues: “Of course it can be something quite different from the coronavirus. However, we are impatiently waiting to be able to do blood tests which tell us whether or not we have antibodies against Covid-19.”

The coronavirus present in Europe from the end of 2019?

For the past few days, here and there, testimonies from former patients have raised doubts. Some describe virulent pneumonia, others evoke high fevers, loss of smell, etc …

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The idea that the virus responsible for the confinement of almost half of humanity appeared well before January begins to loom in the debates. At the end of last week, theDr. Giuseppe Remuzzi, director of the Milan Pharmacological Research Institute, said that “strange pneumonia” was circulating in northern Italy in November 2019, weeks before doctors were informed of the epidemic of coronavirus in China.

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However, it is impossible to say that these were the first cases of coronavirus. The epidemiological studies in progress even tend to invalidate this hypothesis.

“Do not make shortcuts”

“When we go back up the chain of contamination, the first would have taken place in early January in Italy, details Dr Elise Noel-Savina, responsible for intensive care in pulmonology at the Toulouse University Hospital. There is no evidence of circulation of the virus in prior, and no evidence of a cluster in Europe before the appearance of the coronavirus in China. “

What should we think of the symptoms described by several former patients? “Cough, fever, loss of taste and smell are symptoms frequently described by patients with Covid19 but are not typical, continues Elise Noel-Savina. There are no shortcuts. isn’t just coronavirus pneumonia that has these symptoms. ” Influenza coupled with rhinitis causes for example fever, body aches, and loss of smell …

According to this specialist, this winter – and before the epidemic – there were many infectious pneumonias not related to the coronavirus (“more than usual”) and many cases of seasonal flu. And these patients continue to occupy hospital beds. “Today, more than a third of hospitalizations in the pneumology department and in intensive care pneumology are linked to infectious pneumonia which can be cured very well under antibiotics. Admittedly there is an epidemic, but the other diseases are still there . We must not forget them. “

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