The first case of a patient infected with the coronavirus close to SARS was confirmed yesterday in France. In order to avoid any epidemic, the authorities are implementing the health plan.
How to monitor and respond to the threat of the presence in France of the coronavirus? This is the whole question that the French health authorities must answer for the weeks to come. Since the discovery in the country of a first case of acute respiratory infection by the new virus similar to SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), the level of alert should go up a notch.
The information was confirmed Wednesday, May 8 by the Ministry of Health. “This is the first and only case confirmed in France to date” by this new virus from the coronavirus family, said the ministry, specifying that it concerned a 65-year-old man “returning from a stay in the United Arab Emirates “. Marisol Touraine has launched an “in-depth epidemiological investigation”, even if for the moment “no case of disease has been detected in the entourage of the patient,” said the regional health agency (ARS). With the previous epidemics, that of SARS, for example, in 2003, a surveillance system was developed to quickly contain any risk of an epidemic.
First of all, inform the population and play on transparency. This is the “line of conduct” adopted by Marisol Touraine. A toll-free information number for the general public has been operational since 4 p.m. yesterday, it is0 800 13 00 00. The line can be reached from Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. (including Thursday May 9). “The number is open for the French to find answers to their questions “, said the minister.
Spot the arrival new travelers likely to be carriers of the coronavirus on French territory, this is the mission assigned to thea Directorate General of Health. The DGS mobilized regional health agencies, learned societies, health professionals and health assistance and repatriation companies. The Institute for Public Health Surveillance has, for its part, posted on its site recommendations to practitioners concerning the identification of possible cases and their biological confirmation.
Limit human-to-human contamination. THEa DGS recalls that dWhile awaiting more precise epidemiological-viro-clinical data, the High Council of Public Health issued, on March 19, 2013, an opinion on the treatment in hospitals of patients suspected of infections due to the new coronavirus . Among the recommendations addressed to hospitals, additional hygiene precautions (often called isolation measures) must be put in place as soon as the case is suspected. For example, if the patient contacts the health system (his doctor, center 15), he should not be directed from the outset to the emergency reception areas, but to organize his care directly according to the methods which make it possible to avoid contact with other patients, pending classification of the case by the INVS. These consist of hospitalization in a single room for the patient and wearing very strict equipment for the staff, which aims to avoid any contamination (single-use gown, plastic apron during wetting care, non-sterile gloves for use. unique, mask, and goggles).
The novel coronavirus (nCoV) was first detected in mid-2012. This is a particular strain that had never before been identified in humans, or in animals. Patients present with symptoms of an acute and severe respiratory infection with fever, cough, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.
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