Sandrine Bélouzard, researcher at the CNRS and the Institut Pasteur de Lille. – G. Durand / 20 Minutes
- Since January 24, several cases of infection with the coronavirus of the Covid-19 disease have been confirmed in France, including two in the Oise.
- The Institut Pasteur de Lille will embark on the search for an antiviral to combat this coronavirus.
- Sandrine Bélouzard estimates that it will take a few months to develop a possible antiviral drug.
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Since January 24, several cases of infection with the coronavirus, or Covid-19, have been confirmed in France. In the Oise, two new positive cases have been formalized, including that of a teacher who died in Paris. The search for an antiviral is likely to take on the appearance of a time trial in the coming weeks.
20 minutes met Sandrine Bélouzard, researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) at the Institut Pasteur de Lille (IPL) to take stock.
What role can IPL play in research against this coronavirus?
A laboratory is already working on coronaviruses. We are doing antiviral research against another coronavirus that appeared in 2012, MERS, transmitted by dromedary. There are still cases in the Middle East, but the epidemic remains small because it no longer spreads to humans.
We will receive next week a new sample of coronavirus isolated by one of our collaborators in Lyon. The first one we got was difficult to use. We will be able to screen molecules on this coronavirus to see how it reacts. In collaboration with chemists, around a thousand molecules have to be tested. But it will take a few months to have convincing results to develop a possible antiviral drug.
However, there is a lot of talk about chloroquine, a treatment against malaria, which could serve as an antiviral against Covid-19 …
Chloroquine, used against malaria, is one of the molecules that are tested in some 80 clinical trials deployed in China. Obviously the first results in vitro, that is to say in the laboratory, seem to be working. But we have to check the effectiveness of this molecule on a more complex living cell. Another molecule used against
the Ebola virus also seems to be quite effective.
At IPL, one of our researchers, Karin Séron, works on making new natural molecules extracted from plants. Some of these molecules have notably shown their effectiveness in fighting against the MERS coronavirus, we may have encouraging results. There is an urgency for Codiv-19, but the interest of the research is also to target all the coronaviruses, because others are likely to appear in the future.
What should we fear in the coming weeks?
We see that it spreads, but we must be careful with the interpretations. The Oise teacher who died of a pulmonary embolism was a carrier of the coronavirus. This does not mean that the coronavirus is necessarily responsible for pulmonary embolism. In addition, one can be positive for the coronavirus and have no symptoms.
In China, a study on 44,000 cases of people tested positive shows that 80% had a slight fever or not. In 15% of cases, it was much more serious, but without risk of death and only 5% were serious cases with risk of death.
Can we hope for an end to the epidemic in the spring, as we hear it said?
It’s true that most of the coronaviruses we know are seasonal. A third of colds, for example, are caused by coronaviruses. But we have absolutely no idea how this one will behave. It is impossible to predict anything.
