• Last minute, there are five elderly hospitalized in the residence where the dead woman lived in Madrid
  • HEALTH: Coronavirus symptoms, treatment and how to avoid the spread of COVID-19

The elders are not the most infected , but unfortunately they are one of the most vulnerable groups to the Wuhan coronavirus . Hence the concern about the cases registered in the nursing home of La Paz in Madrid. In total, 15 people have tested positive, one of them corresponds to the 99-year-old woman who died Tuesday . With the 87-year-old man who died in Zaragoza today, there are already five victims for this new virus. All with advanced ages.

In these phases of life, it is more common to find comorbidities: diabetes, heart failure, kidney failure, hypertension ... "A patient may come with a mild clinical picture, but if he has several underlying diseases, we are more concerned ," he says. Patricia Muñoz, head of the Microbiology and Infectious Diseases service of the Gregorio Marañón University Hospital in Madrid .

What happens is that the immune system of people with these types of problems offers a more deficit response. Their defenses are compromised and, therefore, the risk of developing severe viral pneumonia is increased, which directly affects their lungs and their ability to breathe. In turn, pneumonia can worsen an existing heart disease and apart from this cardiopulmonary involvement, the infection can also produce an inflammatory response throughout the body, causing complications in other organs.

All these circumstances explain the data collected by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in an epidemiological study published at the end of February in the Journal of the American Medical Association . After analyzing 72,314 patients hospitalized in China until February 11, it was observed that although only 3% of those affected by coronavirus were 80 years of age or older, their mortality rate was 14.8%. Which means that the coronavirus multiplies by 75 its lethality in over 80 years.

It should be stressed that this general rate is 2.3% (1,023 deaths among 44,672 confirmed). Until the age of nine, no deaths were recorded and "among young people without underlying diseases, mortality is practically nil, anecdotal," explains Gregorio Marañón's microbiologist, although most infections occur between 30 and 79 years (87%).

It is clear that the underlying diseases are the key in the prognosis of patients with SARS-Cov-2. According to the 'JAMA ' study, having cardiovascular disease raised the risk of mortality to 10.5%; presenting diabetes accounted for 7.3%; 6.3% for those with chronic respiratory disease; 6% for people with hypertension and 5.6% for those patients with cancer.

Just as old age and comorbidities give a greater risk, other circumstances also make the affected person more vulnerable. For example, immunosuppressed patients, because of HIV or because they are transplanted or because they receive immunosuppressive treatment for other diseases such as cancer chemotherapy.

At the moment, of the 15 positives of the La Paz residence in Madrid , eight are stable in that center, the nursing assistant continues at home, three patients are admitted to the Gregorio Marañón Hospital and two others have been referred to the Hospital Carlos III. This account includes the 99-year-old woman who died of coronavirus last Tuesday.

As a result of this case, a document of actions has been leaked in the Community of Madrid that points to the closure of day care centers and restricts the visits of family and friends in nursing homes of open regime . For the director of Health Alerts and Emergencies, Fernando Simón, "the day centers do not have to be closed [...] Each specific case must be assessed. In very specific areas, not in all the autonomy, in which there is a potential transmission must assess the possibility of actions on these specific centers. "

Apart from these types of measures, how could it be avoided? In the first place, having no contact with people who have traveled to transmission areas and apart from this, it would be advisable " not to visit the elderly if we have respiratory symptoms and maintain the appropriate level of hygiene at all times through frequent hand washing , for example, "explains Patricia Muñoz. "These are recommendations that we should always keep in mind. A flu is also more serious for them."

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