Influenza A remains a grippette, says Pr Debré

[recyclinage]

In an interview with the JDD, the famous professor of medicine affirms that the H1N1 virus is "not dangerous" and accuses the public authorities of using influenza A for political ends.

Is influenza A used by the government for political purposes? This is, in essence, what Professor Bernard Debré affirms today in an interview with the Journal du dimanche. Head of the urology department at Cochin Hospital, member of the National Ethics Committee and UMP deputy from Paris, Professor Debré criticizes the authorities for doing far too much on the H1N1 virus, a virus he says is benign.

"This flu is not dangerous. We realized that it was perhaps even a little less dangerous than the seasonal flu. So now we have to blow the whistle at the end of the game! ”He told JDD. While Prime Minister François Fillon is counting on "several million French people" reached from September and spoke of "a risk of economic slowdown" during a press conference on Friday, Bernard Debré is very reassuring. "It remains a grippette," he says again.

"Everything we do is just to scare us"

"This type of flu was expected and it was very scary" because "everyone had in mind the phenomenon of avian flu H5N1, which is very dangerous for humans with a mortality rate of 60 to 65% but not contagious because it hardly crosses the species barrier, ”continues Professor Debré. “We were concerned about a redistribution of genes that could bring out a very virulent and very contagious virus. This lottery took place, but it produced a good number: the H1N1. We feared a jack of spades, we shot a lady at heart. ”

Particularly turned against the public authorities, Bernard Debré attacks governments, guilty according to him "of having succumbed to a political over-media coverage of this event". "Everything we do is only used to scare us (...) it is useless to panic the populations except to want to hammer at them, for political ends, the following message: good people sleep without fear, we make sure on you, ”says the professor.

According to the World Health Organization, influenza A has affected around 140.000 people and killed nearly 800 people worldwide in four months. In France, the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance has recorded 483 cases of influenza, none of which has been fatal.

Curb the news source

[recyclinage]

Faced with influenza A (H1N1), the eternal battle between the alarmists and the stoics endures. In the ring this weekend, the cautious Roselyne Bachelot, Minister of Health, and the skeptic Bernard Debré, professor of medicine and UMP deputy from Paris.

The professor wanted to make the insurgents' voices heard in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche. According to him, "this flu is not dangerous. We realized that it was perhaps even a little less dangerous than the seasonal flu. So now we have to whistle for the end of the game! ”.
Gesticulation and over-media for Debré

He spoke out against anxiety-provoking speeches coming from the government. “Everything we do is just to scare us. Yes, this flu quickly spreads. And after? A patient contaminates two or three, against one for a classic flu. But it remains a grippette, it is neither Ebola nor Marburg ”.

In addition, according to him “without saying it, the public authorities have already started to reduce the airfoil. Patients, who are no longer checked for H1N1 or a simple head cold, are now invited to take paracetamol ”.

Repeated press conferences, daily press releases ... Bernard Debré was sorry for the "posturing" of the public authorities and the "political over-media coverage of this event". “There are 800 cases listed in France. It's a joke! Are we going to start counting diarrhea? ”
Vigilance more than ever for Bachelot

This Monday, the Minister of Health responded in an interview with Le Figaro. "The truth is that we are confronted with a virus, certainly not severe for the moment, but endowed with a very strong capacity of contamination linked, in particular, to the fact that it affects populations which do not have never met. Faced with this major characteristic, vigilance is the rule ”.

Recalling that experts envisage up to 20 million patients, Roselyne Bachelot judged that this "would put us face to a real public health problem, even if the virus remained not very virulent". She also recalled the risk of accelerated spread of the virus in the fall and its mutation into a more dangerous form.

If France seems to be spared compared to the United Kingdom and Spain, it would be, according to the minister, thanks to the "containment strategy adopted from the start of the epidemic". This strategy "consisted in systematically hospitalizing the sick and monitoring travelers from countries at risk and presenting symptoms".

(AFP source)

release news source

[recyclinage]

The French professor of medicine Bernard Debré affirms that the influenza A / H1N1 "is not dangerous" and that the mobilization against the pandemic "only serves to scare us", in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche.

"This flu is not dangerous. We realized that it was perhaps even a little less dangerous than the seasonal flu. So now we have to whistle the end of the game!", Declares Professor Bernard Debré, famous French urologist, and also UMP deputy of Paris.

"Everything we do is only to scare us," he adds. "Yes, this flu leaks very quickly. And after? A patient infects two or three, against one for a classic flu. But it remains a 'flu', it is neither Ebola, nor Marburg", underlines- he.

According to Bernard Debré, "without saying it, the public authorities have already started to downsize. Patients, who are no longer checked whether they have caught H1N1 or a simple head cold, are now invited to take paracetamol, "he notes.

A life-size exercise

According to him, governments "had no real choice but to follow," after the World Health Organization "began to shrug a little quickly, with daily communiques and conferences. repeating press ". But he "reproaches them for having subsequently succumbed to over-media coverage of this event."

"There are 800 cases listed in France. It's a joke! Are we going to start counting diarrhea?", He says.
"We should have clearly announced the color: we are within the framework of a full-scale exercise. Period. It is useless to panic the populations unless you want to hammer them, for political purposes, the following message: good people sleep without fear, we are watching over you ", continues Professor B. Debré.

(Belga)

rtbf news source

[recyclinage]

it takes 6 months therefore a seasonal cycle leaves hemisphere to observe a mutation in a virus

the cycle is almost over

we don't have a strain virus vaccine yet and already a lot of dead


he says it himself the transmission rate is about three times higher than a normal flu

at the beginning of autumn we will arrive at the first mutation
scientists can't seem to find the strain vaccine
so how are they going to create a vaccine in time for the mutation?

[recyclinage]

Flu, the right tone

[29/07/09] 1 comment (s)

Should we ask researchers to also find a vaccine against the fear of the influenza pandemic? For the past few weeks, France has been divided into two camps. On the one hand, there are those who find that "we" are doing too much for a flu deemed to be benign, the "we" applying to the government and the media. A good part of the general practitioners, perhaps also of the opinion, and some known voices like that of Professor Bernard Debré are of this opinion. The relative calm of Latin America in the winter season, as evidenced by our correspondents, will not invite them to change it. On the other hand, epidemic specialists and health authorities are increasing the number of warnings, while the government is refining its plans.

This difference in points of view is explained by the large gray areas that exist on this now planetary disease. In the absence of antibodies, influenza A (H1N1) is expected to affect many more people than seasonal flu: the attack rate, as experts say, is high. Admittedly, its consequences are in the vast majority of cases limited. But it causes deaths, and in unusual age categories. Will the vaccine arrive on time and who should it be given priority for if it has to be chosen? Many questions are unanswered.

In reality, the difficulty comes from the fact that the public authorities must provide answers to two partly distinct problems. The medical angle, obviously essential, is medical. It is a question of finding the best way to organize mass prevention and, if necessary, care. Logic, for example, would recommend closing schools. But the government must also take into account another dimension: the risk - difficult to assess - that this type of decision would pose to the economy. Conversely, he does not want to see part of the country disorganized in the fall because millions and millions of people would be affected by influenza A (H1N1), even if it is mild.

Beyond the difficult decisions to be made, all those who speak out on this influenza pandemic must first find the right tone with those who are on the front line, which is not easy. Thus, the very active Minister of Health Roselyne Bachelot is right to speak in real time. On the other hand, the tone and substance of his speech to city doctors, whose role changed along the way, disturbed the latter. They also consider themselves to be little informed. One detail: the website supposed to be reserved for them is not and it is poor.

Similarly, the responsibility of the media is engaged, between alarmism and responsibility. For the time being, the general line has rather been that of information. But the real date will be after summer.

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