“We chose to talk about Covid because the disease, i.e. the symptoms, has changed a lot. But also the infection, which is the entrance of the virus, has changed a lot”. He said it Carlo Federico Perno, director of microbiology and immunology diagnostics at the Bambino Gesù pediatric hospital in Romeon the sidelines of the eighth edition of the Impact event, an annual scientific appointment in infectious diseases, underway in the capital.
“We have to reset diagnostics and therapy – continues the professor – There are some of the best Italian virologists, infectious disease specialists and clinicians in the room. The goal is to meet to understand how to better treat our patients. In addition to Covid, there are a series of innovations concerning HIV therapy, which is changing a lot due to the arrival of long-acting drugs – lists Perno -. Against the Varicella Zoster virus we have a vaccine for the prevention of Herpes Zoster that works: we need to know who to give it to, when to give it. We have drugs against delta hepatitis for which, up to now, we had nothing”.
Focusing on the Covid topic, “with the new variants and the effectiveness of the vaccine – observes the expert – the virus continues to circulate, but it is no longer, in fact, as aggressive as before. This has changed the rules of the game. Today we have clearly effective drugs: we must know how to choose the right ones and when to treat the patient”. Initially it was said to treat “all those who need it first, because we don’t know how the disease will evolve – recalls Peno – Today this is no longer the case. We have to select patients who need early treatment, those who are at risk of developing the disease, the frail”, the immunocompromised, “knowing that the others will not need it because they will have a benign evolution. This is the most complex thing: knowing who to treat, when to treat, how early and with what. This is the key topic of this period ”, he concludes.
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