Favorite figure by Didier Raoult, complosphere

Within a few years, microbiologists, with their controversial personalities and practices, had become leading figures for conspiracy theorists.

“It’s probably the easiest respiratory infection to treat.” : At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, in February 2020, Didier Raoult made himself known through a video where he talked about a miracle drug to treat coronavirus patients: hydroxychloroquine. With such assurances, the former director of the IHU in Marseille immediately aroused great hope among the French people. The Marseille microbiologist emerges from obscurity and becomes an idol of the complosphere before being criticized and rejected by the scientific community as numerous studies prove the drug to be ineffective.

Among them, a French study published on January 2 reported that in spring 2020, hydroxychloroquine caused 16,990 deaths in Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Turkey and the United States. In France alone, this molecule has been linked to 199 deaths during the first wave of Covid-19. The drug, initially used against malaria, was introduced by Professor Didier Raoult as an effective treatment against Covid-19.

The professor says he is the victim of a “small, very high-level conspiracy”.

On December 3, 2021, Professor Didier Raoult was sanctioned with a reprimand by the Disciplinary Chamber of the Order of Doctors. He is accused of promoting hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19. “Without established scientific data”which is the same “tough”, said the correspondent of the Disciplinary Chamber during the hearing. A few months ago, Professor, guest on the channel CNews On November 18, 2020, claimed to be a victim “Small, very, very high-level conspiracy.”

In this episode, Rudi Reichstadt and Tristan Mendes France return to “The Raoult phenomenon”, its connections to the complosphere, but also how infectious disease experts have become the standard of protest against Covid-19.

“Didier Raoult, A Figure Chosen by the Conspiracy”, is the 60th episode of Conspiracy Watch, featuring Rudy Reichstad, director of Conspiracy Watch, and Tristan Mendes France, lecturer and member of the Conspiracy Observatory, an expert on digital culture. Podcasts to watch on the Franceinfo website, the Radio France app and several other platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Podcast Addict, Spotify or Deezer.