Covid: Should we fear a new, more contagious and more deadly variant?

in collaboration with

Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)

For Bill Gates, the covid will affect our lives for a long time to come

The American billionaire Bill Gates is known for his involvement in the field of health, notably through the foundation that bears his name. Often repeated since the start of the pandemic, his words are once again echoed in the press. “The nightmare is far from over. There is a greater than 5% risk that an even more virulent, contagious and deadly variant will emerge.the founder of Microsoft told the Financial Times.

“It would be crazy to see this tragedy approaching without implementing the necessary means for the good of the citizens of this world. The amounts invested in health systems are far too low, the risk of a pandemic is not taken seriously. This is tragic because all this money saves lives. A life saved costs less than $1,000.”.

A global organization for the Covid

For the philanthropist, it would be necessary to create an institution composed of international experts specialized in epidemiology and computer science, managed by the World Health Organization. For Dr. Gérald Kierzek, on the contrary, health is at stake at the individual level.

“We have seen how this kind of structure does not work with the crisis we have just gone through. I think on the contrary, as I say in my book, that health should be everyone’s business, that each individual take charge of their health and take care of their immunity by strengthening it to fight against possible viruses”, explains the emergency doctor, medical director of Doctissimo.

Is there a risk that a variant of Covid-19 will evolve into a more dangerous version?

For some virologists, the risk of seeing Sars-Cov-2 evolve towards greater virulence is real. In a forum signed in The world, virologist Peter Markov defends this thesis. He explains “that an endemic circulation of the virus does not mean that it does not pose a public health problem”.

For Gérald Kierzek, “obviously there is a risk of seeing a new variant appear, but it is useless to play with emotions and to disseminate messages intended to scare”. On the contrary, “we must focus on prevention, work on the scourges that plague our Western societies such as obesity, sedentary lifestyle...” adds the doctor.

What is the risk associated with the resistance of the virus in immunocompromised people?

A British study recently revealed that the virus remained active in an immunocompromised person for 505 days, or almost a year and a half. This is the longest infection observed so far. The virus seems to be able to resist thanks to mutations during the infection. The objective would therefore be to be able to treat them as quickly as possible, in order to avoid any immune escape.

For Dr. Kierzek, “it is essential to protect the most fragile, in particular immunocompromised people, due to their fragility, linked to their state of health. But once infected, these patients should not be discriminated against according to their state of health, on the contrary: the objective in medicine is to treat everyone without distinction. reminds the doctor.