Brusaferro: "It remains important to identify asymptomatic. Continue to trace the positives"

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October 28, 2020 In tackling the CoVid-19 pandemic, it remains "important to identify the asymptomatic", so it remains "essential to continue tracing the positives".

"All necessary efforts" must be made and "not to let go".

Silvio Brusaferro, president of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Iss), says this in a hearing with the Senate Hygiene and Health Committee. 

"Tracing who is the carrier of the virus remains" the first frontier to contain the infection ", as well as tracing who has" come into close contact "with them, warns Brusaferro. Being" essential "to keep the infections" below a certain threshold ", recalls the ISS president, the positives must be" easily identified ", so that" their close contacts can be traced "that may have been infected.

The Covid-19 epidemic is currently "widespread throughout Italy" and "is no longer localized", he continues.

The trend of the Rt index, which indicates the speed of spread of the virus, provides "the idea of ​​the growth we are experiencing", warns Brusaferro, "in all regions it is higher than 1" while "many realities far exceed it" .

After a summer with "limited numbers" and a September "in slight and progressive increase", continues the ISS president, there was "a peak in the last two weeks".

"The symptomatic and asymptomatic patients are certainly a range that must be managed at the level of territorial medicine" - continues Brusaferro - "All epidemics, in particular this one reveal strengths and weaknesses and I believe that there are some evident weaknesses that must have an impact in terms of organization and planning of services ".

"There are factors to consider such as the seniority of the Italian population - the President of the ISS listed - pride and merit of the national health system but in an epidemic situation like this" becomes a problematic aspect to look at carefully.

Then there is "the approach to fragility that does not only concern the elderly but also young patients, being able to have flexibility in the production of the materials that are needed from time to time. Prevention is another important issue and I hope it will become one of the pillars of our health and social systems as it is a crucial asset for growth and well-being and requires coordination. Another issue is information systems, a challenge for everyone and a priority issue, such as the ability to interpret and translate the information we receive into behavior " . 

Then there is the aspect of human resources and the "planning of the necessary professional figures and their specific training".

On frailty and the elderly, the president of the ISS reiterated, a reflection on local medicine must be faced, which touches on the models that need to be rethought, up to the "theme of social and health integration which is essential. For example, if the positives a Paucisymptomatic Covids are alone without a family network, to maintain isolation they need not only health but social support ".

Brusaferro also mentioned the importance of technology and finally highlighted the 6 Ps that must characterize territorial medicine today: "It must be based not only on the classic 3 Ps, that is, promotion, prevention and protection, but also on precision / personalization, on prediction, and finally on people's participation (and awareness) ".

"If we want to build health systems and create well-being - he concluded - we must work in a 'one health' logic, on a set of indicators that are the Sustainable Development Goals, on which the country has started as a system. And this is the road, the dashboard, on which to move even in an epidemic phase ". 

October 26,

in Italy (161 in Tuscany, 16 in Lombardy, 9 in Umbria and 2 in Marche) were included in the "Tsunami" study, which aims to test the efficacy and the role of plasma obtained from Covid 19 convalescents announced Brusaferro during the hearing.

"The departure - he admitted - took place very slowly: the activation procedures of the centers took quite a long time and fortunately, starting from June, the trend of the epidemic has suffered a setback".

Tsunami involves 79 clinical centers and 88 transfusion centers distributed in 13 regions and foresees the enrollment of 474 patients.