Who wears a gown, has rubbed shoulders with coronavirus for decades, and deals with new epidemics every five years?
Are you giving the cat your tongue?
The vet, of course.
However, the help of these experts is sometimes neglected in the management of Covid-19, however of animal origin.
It is for this reason that Loïc Dombreval, deputy (LREM) and doctor specializing in dogs and cats, has just sent a letter to the President of the Republic proposing to "enrich (the) Scientific Council", the body responsible for guiding the choices of the executive, "by integrating" this profession.
If we need veterinarians within the group of experts who whisper in the ear of the government, “this is neither corporatism nor, above all, a personal candidacy.
I do not have the profile, insists the deputy.
We need a high-level veterinarian connected to international research ”.
A discredited profession
Within the Scientific Council as elsewhere, animal health specialists have been underutilized since the start of the epidemic in France.
"To tell the truth, they have even been carefully put aside", shouts Loïc Dombreval.
Unlike Germany or China where veterinarians, Lothar Wieler and George Gao, are in charge of managing the crisis.
"It is a reflection of the condescension of human medicine towards animal medicine in our country", regrets Loïc Dombreval.
“Some still believe that vets enter laboratories with their big muddy boots!
Safety and harmlessness standards are in fact exactly the same as in medical laboratories ”, underlines Jean-Luc Angot, president of the Veterinary Academy of France.
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And again, there has been (a little) progress.
Since April 6, departmental veterinary laboratories have been granted the right to carry out “PCR” screening.
They do about 300,000 a week.
"We could have mobilized the veterinarians and achieved a massive test earlier", sighs Jean-Luc Angot.
On the other hand, with regard to serological tests (intended to find out whether antibodies against the virus have been developed), only private and public medical analysis laboratories can carry them out, while veterinary laboratories have offered their service. .
Of course, the arrival of this profession in the Scientific Council "would not settle all at once with a magic wand", nuance Loïc Dombreval, but it could lead to "fruitful collaborations".
The member cites the example of the vaccine against tuberculosis, the famous BCG invented by Calmette, a doctor, and Guérin, a veterinarian.
"We manage sick individuals within the herd"
Especially since coronaviruses are part of the daily life of veterinarians.
Not the Covid-19 which has already killed more than 1.2 million humans, but others in dogs, cats, pigs ... They test it daily and have found vaccines against some of these viruses, such as Infectious bronchitis in poultry.
“There is also a difference in approach,” notes Jean-Luc Angot.
In animal health, we manage herds or sick individuals within herds, human medicine works on the individual.
"
Patrice Gautier, expert at the World Organization for Animal Health, underlines for his part the operational efficiency of veterinary services: “At the rate of a major crisis every five years, the world of animal health knows music.
For example, we are currently on alert for swine fever and avian influenza.
The chains of command and procedures are therefore well known.
"
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In case of doubt in a breeding, the owner has the obligation to inform a veterinarian.
If the risk of contagious disease is confirmed, the farm is cordoned off.
In addition, there is no more entry, no more exit and the area is disinfected.
Movements, including human movements, are prohibited within a radius of 10 km.
Hong Kong flu
Last year, when we called Patrice Gautier one morning to announce the discovery of a dead boar in the town of which he is mayor, Evran, in the Côtes-d'Armor, he immediately went there : “At 10 am, the veterinary services of the department were informed;
at 1 pm, samples were taken;
the negative results arrived twenty-four hours later.
In this kind of situation, you have to act quickly.
"
So, when the chosen one had to wait five days to obtain the result of the PCR test of his daughter who presented symptoms of Covid-19, his arms fell.
“The Ministry of Health and the regional health agencies are more oriented towards supervision of care activities than crisis management.
And this is quite normal, in human health, they are less frequent ”, analyzes Patrice Gautier.
Before Covid-19, France had not experienced a pandemic since 1968 and the Hong Kong flu.
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