- Dr Alberto Zangrillo, the head of intensive care at the San Raffaele
hospital in Milan in Lombardy (the epicenter of Italy’s coronavirus
outbreak), caused a stir on Sunday by telling Italian media that a study
by his colleague had shown that the virus was losing its potency.
- Zangrillo, who is well-known for being the personal doctor of Italy’s former President Silvio Berlusconi.
- WHO said the coronavirus is still a “killer virus”
A very public dispute has broken out between some of Italy’s, and the
world’s, most high-profile doctors after one expert claimed the
coronavirus “no longer exists clinically.”
Dr. Alberto Zangrillo, the head of intensive care at the San Raffaele
hospital in Milan in Lombardy (the epicenter of Italy’s coronavirus
outbreak), caused a stir on Sunday by telling Italian media that a study
by his colleague had shown that the virus was losing its potency.
Zangrillo, who is well-known for being the personal doctor of Italy’s
former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, said the study showed the
virus was weakening and that, “in reality, from the clinical point of
view, the virus no longer exists.”
“The swabs that were performed over the last 10 days showed a viral
load in quantitative terms that was absolutely infinitesimal compared to
the ones carried out on patients a month or two ago,”
he told RAI television Sunday,
citing a study from Massimo Clementi, director of the Microbiology and
Virology Laboratory at the San Raffaele hospital, that is reportedly due
to be published shortly.
The comments prompted a swift rebuke from Franco Locatelli, the head
of Italy’s top health advisory body, the supreme health council.
“I can only express great surprise and absolute bewilderment for the
statements made by Professor Zangrillo. Just look at the number of new
cases confirmed every day to have evidence of the persistent circulation
of the virus in Italy,”
Italian news agency ANSA reported Monday.
The controversy over the comments comes at a delicate time for Italy,
where Europe’s coronavirus outbreak was first detected back in
February. Lockdown measures are being lifted throughout the country with
much of public life reopened. On Wednesday, inter-regional travel will
be allowed to resume. To date, Italy has reported 233,197 confirmed
cases of the virus and 33,475 deaths. Globally, the virus has infected
more than 6.2 million people and at least 375,000 people have died,
according to Johns Hopkins University.
The government waded in to the argument on Monday, with one official
stating that Zangrillo’s comments were dangerous at a time when caution
is crucial.
“Pending scientific evidence to support the thesis that the virus has
disappeared … I would invite those who say they are sure of it not to
confuse Italians,” Sandra Zampa, an undersecretary at the health
ministry, said in a statement, Reuters reported.
“When we are about to open travel between regions and return to a
life as normal as possible … we must invite the Italians to be extremely
careful,” she said.
Experts vs. experts
The World Health Organization also warned Monday that the virus had not suddenly become less lethal.
“This is still a killer virus,” Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program,
told a virtual press briefing on Monday.
“We need to be exceptionally careful not to create a sense that, all
of a sudden, the virus, by its own volition, has now decided to be less
pathogenic. That is not the case at all.” Ryan said the WHO would need
to look at the findings in more detail and said the results, and
severity of illness, could be determined by an individual’s level of
exposure to the virus.
“It may not be the case that the virus is becoming less potent, it
may be the case that we are, as a community and as a globe, are
successfully reducing the number, intensity and frequency of exposure to
that virus, which then on the face of it, then looks weaker.”
Zangrillo is not the only doctor to believe that the virus is weakening, however.
Matteo Bassetti, the director of the infectious diseases clinic of
the San Martino hospital in Genoa also said Monday that the virus is no
longer the same, based on his experience. The virus “may now be
different: the firepower it had two months ago is not the same firepower
it has today,” he said, ANSA reported.
“Currently the new coronavirus is circulating less, that is, the
viral load in circulation among the population has diminished and this
is the effect of both the lockdown and the measures still in place such
as use of the masks and distancing.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/02/claim-coronavirus-no-longer-exists-provokes-controversy.html
