How Is Coronavirus Treated In Italy? Doctor's Story

After the first restrictions imposed by the coronavirus were lifted, the second phase of the exit from the total lockdown began in Italy. Since May 18, cafes, restaurants and shops have reopened in the Apennines. It seems that Italians are gradually returning to the old rhythms of life - albeit wearing masks, gloves and sanitizers.

This, however, does not mean that the new coronavirus has disappeared - hundreds of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 are still in Italian hospitals.

Photo: Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS / Facebook

Here is what a 32-year-old doctor from an infectious diseases hospital in Rome says about the epidemic.

“I remember my first COVID-19 patient. It was a 55-year-old woman who had returned to Rome from Lodi and had a sharp fever. They did a test for COVID-19 - it turned out to be positive. The main thing that I remember when she was brought in was the deathly silence in the department. Usually it is very noisy - but not a sound. I went into the ward to examine the patient. I go up to the bed, and the woman suddenly starts crying: "Doctor, you are the first who touched me since I was diagnosed." Even the nurses and emergency doctors were afraid to touch her.

Of course, the doctors had fear, especially at the beginning of the epidemic. We didn't know what we were dealing with. Even under the protection of workwear, it was impossible to remain completely calm.

At the start of the pandemic, we were instructed on how to dress and undress at the beginning and end of the shift. Every day we have to follow a clear procedure: first we put on the first pair of sterile rubber gloves, then the medical suit. It fastens on the back - this is important because when you take it off, you are less likely to touch the inside of your clothes with dirty gloves and become infected. Then shoe covers. After shoe covers - cap and mask. After the mask - a plastic protective screen on the face, and at the very end - a second pair of rubber gloves. After the change, the first thing to do is to remove your shoe covers - this is the dirtiest part of your clothes. Then the suit - it must be ripped off so as to break the fasteners on the back. The first pair of gloves is removed with the clothes. The second pair must be disinfected and the mask, cap and screen must be removed in one motion. You can then remove the second pair of gloves and disinfect your hands.

I particularly remember two patients. The first was my senior colleague, a professor, who actually taught me everything. His temperature rose sharply - the test for COVID-19 was positive. The first day he was treated at home. On the second day, his condition deteriorated sharply, and in the evening he was brought to our hospital. During the night he became even worse, in the morning he practically could not breathe, but was conscious. We decided to transfer him to intensive care. When he was being taken away, he looked at me and said: "I hope I'll be back." I will never forget his eyes - there was a fear of death in them. Fortunately, we managed to save him.

"Move one meter away from each other." Report from quarantined Rome

Another patient is a grandfather: 81 years old, severe pneumonia, a serious condition, weak heart. The resuscitator decided not to take him - there are not enough free places in the intensive care unit, and the patient is very elderly. They put on a helmet with oxygen for non-invasive ventilation of the lungs and continued therapy, although they did not particularly hope to save him. A ventilator helmet is a difficult experience for the patient. Oxygen is constantly pulsing inside the helmet, it's hard to sleep in it, the helmet fogs up from breathing, heats up inside. It hurt me to look at this grandfather, I could see how he was tormented. At the same time, his condition worsened, and we thought that he was about to die. The last thing we decided to try was therapy with a drug for rheumatoid arthritis. And it worked unexpectedly! The patient is on the mend. We discharged him today. At this age, it is almost a miracle.

In hospitals in Lombardy, many doctors became infected - at some point they began to run out of masks, gloves and other protective equipment. Fortunately, there was no shortage of protection in our clinic. But the ventilators ran out, and the manufacturers could not provide us with new ones in a short time. We were saved by veterinary ventilators. They were altered to fit a person and promptly delivered to us.

Relatives are not allowed to see COVID-19 patients. Such patients die alone, unable to say goodbye to loved ones. Relatives cannot even receive the bodies of the deceased: they are returned only in closed coffins. No funeral took place during quarantine. Most of those who died from COVID-19 were cremated.

On television, they talk about deaths from COVID-19 and deaths from COVID-19. I think this is incorrect. Let's say a 50-year-old diabetic patient died of a heart attack. And the heart attack was provoked by the fact that oxygen does not enter the heart, because the lungs are completely affected by the coronavirus.

Deaths from respiratory failure have increased by 30% this year. And not only in Italy, but also, for example, in Germany, where there were much fewer cases of COVID-19.

I think the virus appeared in Italy much earlier than January. His threat was underestimated, not because we treated it with negligence, but because we were based on the data we received from China.

The condition of the patients now admitted with COVID-19 is much less severe than the condition of the first patients who arrived in February-March. It seems that the virus was more aggressive at first. There are no such severe cases that we saw at the beginning of the pandemic.

We cannot explain exactly why there were many times more cases of infection in the north of Italy than in the center and south of the country. Assuming that the virus has been circulating since December and the number of people moving from Milan to Rome and back every day, it is unclear why there were so many fewer cases in Rome.

A theory is currently being investigated that the difference in infection between north and south may be due to genetic differences between northern and southern Italians. For example, the proven fact that the genetics of the islanders are different from those of those born on the mainland. Say, the natives of Sardinia are genetically predisposed to favism and multiple sclerosis, these diseases are very common in Sardinia. It is possible that northern Italians were genetically more predisposed to contracting COVID-19.

We are expecting a second wave of the virus. Perhaps he will not be so aggressive - we are seeing this already now. In any case, unlike February, we will be ready for an emergency."

"The atmosphere in the hospital surprised me." New York doctor on resistance to the virus.