Before occupying his current Chair of Director General of Health (DGS), Professor Jérôme Salomon worked as an infectious disease specialist at Garches hospital (Hauts-de-Seine). As a connoisseur of epidemics, he ensures that one should not give in to panic while maintaining high vigilance. This Saturday evening, there was no fourth confirmed case in France.
How are the three Coronavirus patients doing?
JEROME SALOMON. Very well ! These people followed the correct procedures, that is to say they called center 15 and were transported in good conditions to specialized hospitals in Bordeaux and Paris. Their situation no longer worries clinicians. This shows that our health system is prepared and that the care system is efficient.
Did these people have weaknesses?
No, no particular fragility. Admittedly, coronaviruses affect the most fragile more, but they are also the cause of quite benign pathologies in people with a very satisfactory state of health. It then looks like colds, flu-like conditions that are treated with conventional treatments of hydration, painkillers, vitamins. For severe forms, trials are underway, due to the Middle Eastern Mers-CoV which is still prevalent. We are working on antivirals that exist for other viral pathologies, such as HIV.
So there is, to date, no fourth case in France?
No. We have received many calls and requests for information. In the coming days, we will have possible or even confirmed cases, but today there are no additional cases in France. The people exposed are those who have been in contact, within fourteen days, with patients, particularly in China.
Now remains to find the entourage of the three patients. How do you do it?
Mainly thanks to the questions we ask the patient. We ask him since when he has had symptoms and with whom he has been in close contact: same room, same car, same bed. This is called "contact cases". They are then called one by one in order to question them and give them advice: take their temperature twice a day, be attentive to their symptoms, contact the 15th if in doubt and above all reduce their contact with them themselves. outside.
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Do you fear an epidemic in France?
Today, the situation is under control, with specialized teams and tests that allow a diagnosis to be made in a few hours. The important thing is to manage the contact cases well because an epidemic is nothing more or less than a transmission of the virus from a sick person to a non sick person. We also remind people not to go to the emergency room but to call 15 if there is suspicion.
The 2019 - is nCoV less dangerous than the famous Sras of 2003?
We have two points of comparison. The highly contagious SARS, which killed around 10% of the sick. And Mers-CoV, much less contagious but causing the death of almost a third of patients. Today we are at around 3% mortality and probably much less. And for good reason, we calculate the lethality by dividing the number of deaths by that of infected people. However, for nCoV, we do not have these latest data; only confirmed cases. Mortality is therefore possibly to be divided by two, three, even ten! Concretely, it is currently superior to the flu (less than 1%) but could approach it. It seems that the virus is contagious but not that aggressive.
Isn't that a little too reassuring?
It will have to be refined in the coming days. We are very attentive, very careful, very vigilant and in constant adaptation. No one can predict evolution. You know, it's not so common to have a new virus in humans! This is why the system is extremely mobilized.
