- A viral message assures that Covid-19 is not directly responsible for the deaths of some patients, but that the virus infects an intestinal bacteria called prevotella, causing respiratory disorders.
- Its presence in numbers in the elderly or the obese would explain the excess mortality in this category of patients.
- But scientists and infectious disease experts largely question the claims in the message.
It's a message that has gone viral on social networks and on WhatsApp. Shared in number in recent days, he says that "a victory is in sight against the Covid". The reason for this optimism? The result of global research involving teams from China, the United States and France (in Lille, more precisely).
In this message without signatory, whose information would emanate from doctors of clinics of the Elsan group (second group of private clinics of France) one affirms that "the virus would not kill directly, but via an intestinal bacterium which it would infect ”.
Called prevotella, this bacterium "would trigger the immune hyper-reaction which decays the lungs and kills the patient". According to the message, this is the reason why the elderly are more affected than children because prevotella "is more and more present with age". The same goes for the high mortality in obese people, because "their unbalanced intestinal flora contains a lot of prevotella".
A bacteria causing deaths?
This discovery would open, according to the viral message, encouraging prospects for the treatment of coronavirus. It would suffice to use azithromycin as a curative therapy, “to be prescribed from the start of the infection. This treatment involves the restoration of a healthy intestinal flora that neutralizes prevotella (by the prescription of probiotics, that is to say a good intestinal flora). "
So why not explore this avenue more to treat the sick? On this point, the message develops a conspiratorial thesis: "An inexpensive ultra-promising therapeutic track would then render the use of a vaccine, of random and expensive discovery obsolete ... which would therefore further ruin Gilead's lucrative hopes [pharmaceutical laboratory ] and its lobbyists after the patent failure of their antivirals ”. But it is also the fault “of the media with orders which keep us silent on this major discovery”
FAKE OFF
Well written, rich in details, this message may appear credible. Except that in fact, there is reason to be skeptical. Starting with the origin of the text supposed to have been originally shared by doctors belonging to the Elsan group. Contacted on the subject, the group of private clinics formally denies being at the origin of this sharing on social networks.
“Elsan is not the source of the information currently circulating on social networks indicating that a major discovery has been made in the treatment of coronavirus. Elsan does not validate this information which has not been scientifically verified or demonstrated to date. Elsan is in no way involved in this research, ”replied the group.
No Lille team directly involved
On the researchers' side, skepticism prevails. Questioned on the subject by 20 Minutes, researcher François Trottein, research director at CNRS and installed at the Institut Pasteur in Lille, is a specialist in the intestinal microbiota. On March 13, 2020, 20 Minutes had even devoted an article to the research of its team. The researchers had successfully demonstrated the involvement of the intestinal microbiota in the fight against secondary bacterial infections linked to seasonal influenza.
Except that this study has not yet proven a comparable mechanism for the coronavirus. "Our study showed that during the flu, there was a disturbance in the intestinal microbiota," explains the researcher. This disturbance is at the origin of a bacterial superinfection. It is said that if we manage to protect the microbiota with prebiotics or probiotics, we could better defend ourselves against respiratory infections. Potentially, there could be applications in the Covid-19 but that remains a hypothesis. We are going to work on it but nothing has been released yet. "
No publication in a scientific journal
If he did not directly receive the WhatsApp message that is currently circulating, François Trottein did receive by email a letter written in English by Sandeep Chakraborty, an Indian researcher who works at the University of California and talks about this discovery. Except that the Lille research director remains cautious.
"People get carried away with it, but I don't really believe it. This text shows nothing and is not convincing. These are just guesses. Nothing is proven. There are a lot of elements missing. It is not even an article that has been analyzed by experts, ”says the research director at CNRS.
Miracle treatment questioned
As for azithromycin, whose role would be essential in the treatment of the bacteria according to the message, its usefulness remains largely to be found. Infeciologist at the University Hospital of Angers, Professor Vincent Dubée, who launched a study on chloroquine, does not hide his doubts.
“Already, having treated many Covid patients, I can tell you that there is no prevotella in their blood.In addition, to treat a bacteria like this, azithromycin would clearly not be preferred. There are other antibiotics that are much less toxic and have much faster activity. "
With a group that denies being at the origin of the viral message, a researcher who disputes the published text and an infectious disease specialist who has big doubts on the usefulness of the announced miracle cure, the major discovery announced on WhatsApp seems rather firecracker wet.
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