The Marseille IHU, reference center in France

• The Marseille IHU Mediterranean Infection is the reference center for the detection and treatment of coronavirus in the Paca region.
• Unlike some Parisian sites in saturation, the IHU is able to perform 1,000 screenings per day.
• The institute is also working on known molecules to find an effective treatment against the coronavirus.

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A brand new building in the center of all attention. It is within the Mediterranean University Hospital Marseille Infection Institute, located at Timone Hospital, that screening tests are carried out for
coronavirus in the region
Paca. It was here that the first case of coronavirus in Marseille was detected, after those in Nice. This is also where the patient will be treated. “The big advantage of the IHU is that we carry out diagnostics, patient care and research on the virus in the same place,” says Professor Didier Raoult, who heads the institute, recognized worldwide, since its opening in 2016.

Already 600 samples have been taken within the IHU last week, with diagnostic results available in less than 3 hours “We have set up a containment zone for suspect patients in which doctors wear a mask. Nasal-pharyngeal swabs are taken to collect mucus, “said Professor Philippe Brouqui of the IHU.

Higher capacity in Paris

These samples are then analyzed using the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) method. “We are targeting a specific sequence for the virus that we will multiply to find out if it is present,” explains Professor Didier Raoult.

If 600 samples were taken last week, and they have only increased since the beginning of this week. And up to 1,000 diagnoses can be made daily within the IHU. “When we see that in Paris some establishments are not able to do tests and that they tell people to go home to quarantine …”, notes an IHU staff bitterly.

If the sample turns out to be positive, the virus can be cultured and observed through ultra-powerful microscopes. A coronavirus is also present on the screen, “we recognize it by its round shape, like a crown”.

Avoid panic

On the other side of the building, a wing welcomes the sick. Specific rooms are planned to accommodate the first coronavirus patients in Marseille. A room quite classic even if fairly impressive valves allow to control the pressure.

“They are pressurized to prevent viruses in the room from getting out. We also have portable equipment that we can bring into the room and which is then sterilized so as not to bring the patient out, “reassures the professor. Ultra-equipped rooms to treat patients as well as possible, but also to avoid the spread of a feeling of fear. For Professor Raoult, panic linked to the epidemic is more dangerous than the virus itself, “but it can be managed”.

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