INTERVIEW
While 11 cases of coronavirus have been identified in France, scientists are working hard to better understand this new virus from China, and contain it at best. This is the case of Vincent Enouf, deputy director of the National Reference Center for respiratory viruses at the Institut Pasteur. He was the guest of Nathalie Levy on Monday in the Grand journal du soir . At the microphone of Europe 1, he details the working and safety methods of French scientific teams.
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Vincent Enouf opens the doors to a very secret and impenetrable place of the Institut Pasteur: the cell that detects and observes the coronavirus. A team of ten scientists, quickly set up. "The number of people working on the coronavirus has increased a lot. In the early days, over the period of the implementation of a detection system there were about ten", explains Vincent Enouf. "We asked for reinforcement as soon as we detected cases and isolated the virus. Research themes and a 'task force' were set up at the Institute, to work in different fields to be able to move forward as quickly as possible possible ", he continues.
Reinforced security conditions
The scientist explains to Europe 1 microphone the precautions taken to ensure the safety of personnel. "The samples reach us in tubes, in small boxes. There is triple packaging with a protection system. It is approved transporters who bring these samples", details Vincent Enouf. The Institut Pasteur cell receives approximately ten samples per day. Four or five hours of work are necessary to confirm whether the sample is carrying the virus or not.
Despite the danger posed by this virus, scientists in the cell are used to working under these conditions, even if the level of security is higher than normal. "We have a room where the air enters but only comes out once filtered, and there are microbiological safety stations to protect the samples and the researchers. We work with double gloves, full suits and glasses ", adds Vincent Enouf.
"We are a team of professionals, we are used to working under these conditions," he says. "Throughout the year, we have suspicions of other viruses like H5N1, and therefore each time we work under the same conditions. The staff is very used to it, highly qualified and in addition to the Pasteur Institute has optimal conditions for working safely, "he says.
"We ask ourselves a lot of questions"
Despite the qualification of these teams, the work is dense. "We have been on the verge almost every day for three weeks," acknowledges the researcher. "We take care that the person can rest a little to be always able to work".
For these scientists, it is first of all a question of better knowing the virus. "We are asking a lot of questions," explains Vincent Enouf. "We are examining a large number of samples: blood, stool, urine. According to the results, appropriate barrier measures must be put in place to prevent its spread," he continues. For now, the first route of dissemination is "airborne": if someone infected coughs next to us, and we inhale the virus particles. "Today, we wonder if there are other means of transmission," said the researcher.
No treatment to date
There are many questions about this new virus: is a healed person still contagious? Is the virus still detectable? "All of these questions remain open," says Vincent Enouf. "The fact of having six people hospitalized in France allows us to advance on the knowledge of the virus", specifies the scientist. No effective treatment has been discovered to date. According to Vincent Enouf, trials are underway to check whether already known molecules could act on the disease.
Finally, the specialist considers that we react in France in a measured and appropriate way to the threat of the coronavirus. "The reflection is done progressively, according to the information that we have", explains the researcher. "We can say that we practice in a measured way the barrier methods that can be used against this virus," he concludes. Globally, the latest assessment reports 908 deaths and more than 40,000 people infected.