Articles from B Acad Nat Med Paris 2021 August

B Acad Nat Med Paris · Aug 2021

Review

[Avian coronaviroses: Characteristics of epidemiological interest, in comparative medicine].

Coronavirus disease in veterinary medicine has been known since 1931 and is the cause of one of the most damaging diseases in poultry farming: avian infectious bronchitis (BIA). The characteristics most useful for the study of epidemiology are presented, in particular the very strong mutagenicity and the seasonality of infections with this virus. The control programs are based on numerous biosecurity measures applied as much to prevent viruses from spreading from sources of infection: biocontainment measures, as to measures to prevent contamination of uninjured herds: bioexclusion measures The control of avian coronaviruses is based mainly on vaccinations and because of the very strong mutagenic power of the virus, a race is regularly underway, to succeed in matching the different viruses frequently appearing in farms and vaccine viruses. This also obliges us to adapt each time and region by region the pool of vaccines used and the vaccination programs used.

[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.

[Reforming Biosciences and Health Research: Part I, Funding].

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.