B Acad Nat Med Paris
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B Acad Nat Med Paris · Aug 2021
Review[The COVID-19 battle at CHU Zhongnan and Leishenshan hospital: a summary of the global mobilization in China and reflections on the Wuhan experience].
The city of Wuhan, capital of Hubei, was the starting point of the Covid-19 epidemic and its doctors were led to develop novel strategies that have benefited the global fight in the country. But whatever strategies we hold up, the basic golden rule for controlling the pandemic has been early detection, reporting, isolation and treatment. The modalities of the battle were: swift action to block transmission with a vigorous, multifaceted response; resource allocation (a nationwide command system); Fangcang shelter hospitals; Broad community engagement: -provision of support via a volunteer network; People embraced behavioral change: -wearing masks and social distancing; Widespread testing: technical innovation; Science and technology curb the pandemic with research and digital technology; Free diagnosis and treatment for COVID-19. The success of our experience has provided valuable information to the international community in the fight against the pandemic.
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The COVID-19 pandemic occurred in the context of a dramatic decline in support for biological and health research in France. An analysis of resources allocated to this sector shows that the credits in 2020 correspond to only 17.2 % of the total credits allocated to research, the lowest ratio inat least 15 years. ⋯ Another article deals with the organization of research. Recommendations are also made to improve the functioning of the research system at the local level, particularly in university hospitals, and at the national level.
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B Acad Nat Med Paris · Aug 2021
Review[From SARS, MERS to COVID-19: a journey to understand bat coronaviruses].
From the beginning of this century, three coronaviruses (CoVs) have caused severe human respiratory diseases, including severe respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which outbroke in 2002-2003, 2012 and 2019-2020, respectively. These viruses are three different species belonging to Coronaviridae family, Betacoronavirus genus. Discovery of closely-related CoVs in bats indicates that bats are natural reservoirs of these viruses. ⋯ However, these bat viruses seem to be low pathogenic in human ACE2 transgenic mice compared with the SARS-CoV-2. These results imply that these bat CoVs have potential interspecies transmission to other animals and humans. Our work highlights the necessity of preparedness for future emerging infectious diseases caused by these CoVs.
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Coronaviruses are RNA viruses classified into Alphacoronavirus, Betacoronavirus, Gammacoronavirus and Deltacoronavirus. Their name comes from their conformation with the observation of spicules forming a sort of crown. Coronaviruses seem to come from bats, and more particularly Alphacoronaviruses and Betacoronaviruses (the genus where zoonoses are observed), while birds are the source of Gammacoronaviruses and Deltacoronaviruses. ⋯ Most Alphacoronaviruses are species specific. They can be responsible for serious diseases such as the cat coronavirus, responsible for feline infectious peritonitis, transmissible gastroenteritis (GET) in piglets and porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED), porcine respiratory coronavirus (PRCV). Finally, a deltacoronavirus can be found in both pigs (PD CoV UKU15) and birds.