- A mysterious epidemic of pneumonia is raging in China, where 41 people have been infected.
- There are also two patients in Thailand and one in Japan. To date, the virus has killed two people.
- This epidemic of pneumonia is due to a coronavirus never observed before, and is characterized by symptoms similar to those of the flu.
A mysterious virus. A city with dozens of infected residents. And the fear that this new evil will spread around the world. No, this is not the pitch of a catastrophic film, but the phenomenon which appeared three weeks ago in China and which is starting to affect neighboring countries.
To date, at least 41 patients affected by a new form of pneumonia have been identified in China, as well as two in Thailand and one in Japan. And two people lost their lives after contracting this previously unknown virus. Where is he from ? Should we fear a global contagion? "We must not panic," reassures Vincent Enouf, virologist and deputy director of the National Reference Center for Influenza at the Institut Pasteur.
What is this virus? What are his symptoms and had he raged before?
According to the few elements available to date, it seems that it is a new virus, never observed until then. It belongs to the family of coronaviruses, and more specifically beta coronaviruses. Another coronavirus from the same family is similar: SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), which raged in China and Hong Kong in 2003 and which had then killed hundreds of victims. To date, there are seven coronaviruses: four belong to the family of viruses to be monitored seasonally, which cause the symptoms of a classic flu. There is also MERS (middle east respiratory syndrome), a coronavirus that appeared in Saudi Arabia in 2012, as well as SARS. And finally this new virus.
This new disease, first observed in late December in China, is characterized by a respiratory syndrome, like a form of pneumonia, with symptoms similar to the flu. There is no reason to panic today, it has nothing to do with completely different viruses like Ebola. He may be no worse than a simple flu. However, like the latter, its effects will be more severe in the most fragile people, who are over 65 years old or who have co-morbidities.
How is this virus spread? Is it contagious and is it possible to spread worldwide?
The epicenter of the epidemic is located in the city of Wuhan, in China, and more specifically in a fish and seafood market. Chinese health authorities have established that several affected patients work in this market, where they are sold. living and dead animals: this is the starting point. In the past, other coronaviruses have infected wild animals - birds and even bats - before the disease was transmitted to humans. There again, the first patients were probably infected by dead animals affected by this coronavirus.
We are talking here of a passage from animals to humans, there is at this stage no element that favors human-to-human transmission, there is no spread in the population. This is reassuring: this virus is not highly contagious like that of SARS.
What's going to happen ?
Since this virus is a priori new, there is no treatment or vaccine. Today, our job at the National Reference Center for Influenza is to analyze the genome sequences of the virus that have been released by the Chinese authorities. These data will make it possible to develop a detection system. France is mobilized and has activated its surveillance networks to detect as quickly as possible the possible presence of the virus in any person who returns from the contaminated geographic area, and thus to control any risk of spread.
It is the same process that we had implemented when the MERS had raged, but also the same as for the traditional seasonal flu.
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