Toulouse: this teacher-researcher from the Veto School releases a comic strip on grip
Pierre Bessière de l’Ecole, teacher-researcher at the Toulouse Veterinary School co-authored with illustrator Yohan Colombiè-Vivès, a comic strip on the flu entitled “The flu: a virus, ducks and men “.
Pierre Bessière started his career as a qualified veterinary doctor. After working as a practicing veterinarian, he turned to research by completing a university doctorate in virology. He is currently a young teacher-researcher in infectiology and virology at the National Veterinary School of Toulouse. His work focuses on emerging viruses, in particular influenza viruses and coronaviruses. Aged 29, he has just released his first comic. Interview.
A veterinarian who releases a comic on the flu is not trivial. At first glance, one might think that you are in the wrong sector…
Almost all emerging diseases are viral diseases, and moreover zoonoses, ie transmitted from animals to humans. In other words, all new diseases or diseases that become important again are viral and of animal origin. The flu is an example of a disease which can be very dangerous and which is of animal origin at the base. Hence my interest, as a veterinarian in this subject.
Can all animals catch and transmit the flu?
The flu virus circulates permanently in several species: humans (seasonal flu), pigs (swine flu), horses (equine flu) and birds (avian flu), generally they have difficulty passing from one species to another. The word flu therefore refers to several diseases. But a virus can mutate and adapt to new species, that’s how a human virus can infect a cat or a dog. And conversely, an avian virus can infect humans.
Will a horse that catches the flu have the same symptoms as a human?
Yes. The symptoms are above all respiratory, because these viruses multiply in the cells of our respiratory system (nose, trachea, lungs).
Your comic strip is called “A virus, ducks and men”, is that to mean that it is the ducks who disseminate the flu on the surface of the Earth?
All the viruses responsible for the flu, (in other words the influenza viruses) that exist are, in origin, viruses of birds. Aquatic birds, in particular ducks, are reservoirs for the influenza virus. They harbor, most often without being sick, very diverse viruses and will mix them, through their migrations, on the surface of the Planet. Through mutations, they can pass from bird to man. This is what happened in 1918 with the Spanish flu where a purely avian virus infected humans.
With the Covid pandemic, we talk less about the flu but it is still there…
The flu kills between 10 and 15,000 people a year. In 2020 and 2021, it was not very virulent, in particular because of the application of barrier gestures.
Veterinarians have been consulted very little in the context of the covid crisis, we have mainly seen doctors, when we are dealing with a virus that has passed from animals to humans. What is your analysis of this pandemic?
A few years ago, the One Health concept was born. This is based on the principle that the good health of ecosystems, animal health and human health are closely linked. We must stop treating the diseases of each in his corner. If we want to prevent the emergence of new pandemics, all these professions must work together. Covid has particularly highlighted this aspect. This is how a veterinary researcher ended up setting up the scientific council. It is rather a good omen.
Can we expect more coronavirus crises in the future?
New viruses will appear, it is a virtual certainty, they will not necessarily be coronaviruses but perhaps influenza-like viruses.
What do the flu and covid have in common?
These are two respiratory viruses, transmitted by close contact, and seasonal. They both have a genome made up of RNA, so when the virus reproduces, the copies are rarely adapted due to the introduction of mutations. Mutations that can make the virus more dangerous.
Will the covid eventually die out?
We are going to move on to an endemic virus, which should settle permanently among the population, which will have developed collective immunity. It will therefore be less dangerous.