https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS2213-2...
Looking at the drug cocktail that the patient received, this seems to be pretty heavy artillery:
- methylprednisolone
- moxifloxacin
- lopinavir plus ritonavir
- interferon
- meropenem
Holy shit, is this a recommended medication for severe Covid-19 cases?
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2001282?query=fe...
It also seems some EU countries are now stopping the use of lopinavir due to this study.
Not sure what to make of this. Can this to some extent explain the huge differences in death rate between Italy and Germany?
Source: https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/85499
Source (in Dutch): https://swab.nl/nl/covid-19
But yes in Italy the current guidelines (which are still dated 13 February still mention lopinavir).
Source (in Italian): http://www.simit.org/medias/1569-covid19-vademecum-13-03-202...
It has also been removed from guidelines from Belgium: source (English) : https://epidemio.wiv-isp.be/ID/Documents/Covid19/COVID-19_In...
I think the odd case is France wich I think is still not having Chloroquine/Hydroxichloroquine in their guidelines as of today.
I was not able to find the german guidelines.
Italy has a couple severe disadvantages compared to Germany:
- since the financial crisis young ppl are forced to live with their parents and often enough grandparents in cramped conditions due to exploded rents - which means that symptomless infected can spread coronavirus in their families
- Italy's healthcare system has been wrecked by forced austerity after the financial crisis - it's exactly what everyone warned of back at the time.
- many young nurses and other medical staff have fled to Germany and other countries for better pay