The doctor of 'patient 1' in Italy: "We treat him with an HIV drug to save him"

• Asia.The economic authorities begin to take seriously the impact of the coronavirus after the slowdown in China
• Coronavirus in Spain: An Italian test positive and quarantine more than 1,000 people in his hotel
• Direct: Last hour of the coronavirus

Dr. Raffaele Bruno no longer knows how many hours he has been working for a while, he believes that there are 80 hours, in which he has been responsible for the outbreak of coronavirus in Italy , in Castiglione d'Adda , the location of 'patient 1', the patient who propagated the infection by the region of Lombardy, his patient.

It is located in the San Matteo hospital in Pavia , the birthplace of the coronavirus in Italy. He wears a mask, his shirt covered by a raincoat, boots, hat, gloves, all biocontainment material. Leave a moment for 'patient 1', who is sedated, to attend to the Corriere della Sera , and explain what is the situation of the 38-year-old man who was infected, still without knowing where, and who traveled through many areas of the region from Northern Italy spreading the virus.

Mattia, the 'patient 1', is not the only case of this doctor, and his treatment is not different from that of all the most serious patients hospitalized in the ICU , where Mattia has remained since last February 19. " There is no specific cure for coronavirus because it is a new virus that suddenly passed from one animal to another . We are using experimental therapies," he explains.

And what do these experimental therapies consist of? This is a cocktail of medications, "among which there is also an HIV drug , " which they used before and have recovered to "save him and others." "We give it twice a day, like Ribavirin , an old antiviral used for the flu," he adds. In addition, they are also being given antibiotics to prevent bacterial infections, "which we administer four times a day."

What is that HIV medicine that is being given at this hospital? The active substance , as Bruno explains, is Lovipanir , "an antiretroviral that belongs to the class of protease inhibitors, an enzyme present in both HIV and the coronavirus ." So far, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the National Health Commission and the National Administration of Medical Products have approved the registration for clinical trials with the antiviral drug remdesivir , as reported a few weeks ago. An antiviral drug that is being tested in clinical trials to treat Ebola.

However, it is the first time that this HIV drug has been discussed to treat coronavirus. "At the moment we have to be satisfied with the preliminary results , which are encouraging. They are treatments that have proven effective in the laboratory and have already been used in China and Korea," he explains.

Meanwhile, the modern pharmaceutical company has sent the first batch of its rapidly developed and experimental coronavirus vaccine to US government researchers, who will conduct the first human tests to analyze whether it could help suppress the epidemic originating in China, according to a statement of the company.

Moderna sent vaccine vials this Monday from its manufacturing plant in Norwood, Massachusetts (USA), to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Bethesda, Maryland (USA) .

The institute expects a clinical trial of around 20 to 25 healthy volunteers to begin by the end of April , testing whether two doses of the vaccine are safe and inducing an immune response that is likely to protect against infection, said NIAID director Anthony Fauc.

Nevertheless, this doctor ensures that the coronavirus is only severe in 15% of cases , especially in elderly patients, and asks for calm. "Dozens and dozens of people come to the Emergency Department because they say they have come into contact with possible infected people. Until Sunday we had to analyze everyone. Fortunately, now we do it only with those who have symptoms, because we cannot lose time or diagnostic kits ".

The seventh victim , confirmed Tuesday by the Italian authorities, is a 62-year-old man who was on dialysis because he was suffering from various pathologies and tested positive last week. Of the seven deaths that have occurred in Italy, six have taken place in the Lombardy region and one in Veneto.

Lombardy is the most affected Italian region, since 172 cases have been registered . Meanwhile, in Veneto 33 have been confirmed; in Emilia Romagna, 18; in Piedmont, three and in the Lazio region another three, according to data from the Italian health authorities. Italy is also the third country by number of infections in the world, after China and South Korea.

"We cannot predict the progress of the virus: there was an outbreak and from there it also spread," said Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who has referred to the "hospital structure" when addressing the "diffusion" of the coronavirus "We continue with the greatest caution and rigor," he said.

In this context, the Italian Health Minister, Roberto Speranza , considered this Monday "indispensable" that there is "a single coordination center for emergency management" facing Italy. "This is how it works, as evidenced by the ordinances signed on Monday. Unilateral decisions for a single territory do not work," he warned.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

• Italy
• Coronavirus
• Covid 19
• Science and Health

HealthLast news about the coronavirus: WHO warns for the first time about "an eventual pandemic"

HealthMilan closes for fear of the coronavirus

Coronavirus: Supermarket and depleted gel disinfectant and masks in Italy