Several times, since the beginning of the pandemic, we at QuiFinanza have questioned ourselves about the meaning and effectiveness of the official treatments usually used by general practitioners against Covid, that is, those approved by the Ministry of Health and the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. Because if on the one hand the science was formidable in finding a vaccine in a few months, on the other hand it was difficult to have an anti-Covid drug.
Only today, after two years, the first two antiviral drugs have finally arrived against the Coronavirus, that of Merck and that of Pfizer. Great news, of course. But not a few doctors, as early as March 2020, have questioned the ministerial protocol which provided for the now famous formula “tachipirina and watchful waiting”.
What does not work in the “tachipirina and watchful waiting” formula
The objections of the doctors who support home care – on the basis of their clinical evidence – are essentially two: that watchful waiting wastes precious time for the management of an infection that must be countered immediately; and that the paracetamol (more commonly known by one of its trade names, tachipirina in fact) not only completely ineffective, but you even risk weakening the body and facilitating the Covid infection itself.
So what to do? How is Covid treated at home to prevent it from getting worse? Waiting, seeing what happens and taking acetaminophen if you have a fever or some pain? Better not. Finally, the Ministry of Health has also been convinced of the possibility of treating positive Covid patients at home in another way. As? Acting immediately, without wasting even a minute.
Remuzzi’s thesis: how to cure Covid at home
Prof. Giuseppe Remuzzi, which we have mentioned several times in our articles.
Director of the Mario Negri Institute of Pharmacological Research in Milan, author of more than 1440 publications in international journals and 16 books, Remuzzi continues to insist on extraordinary effectiveness of anti-inflammatory drugs, taken immediately, at the first symptoms, even before the buffer possibly, in order to play ahead of the advance of Covid, which in some cases can be extremely dangerous.
“Not all of what is referred to as home care is the same – Remuzzi underlines – and talking about home treatments as if it were a novelty is at least a bit naive. In fact, every disease is treated at home before arriving at the hospital. It is necessary to distinguish what some doctors give, saying that it works only because they believe it, and the treatments that instead emerge as valid from scientific research “.
And that makes all the difference in the world on home care. So watch out for those who prescribe solutions that are at least imaginative, and stay away from doctors who question vaccines.
What the studies say
What drugs to take immediately if you have symptoms, then? Before doing the counter-test of the tampon also, in the face of a cold, sore throat, cough or fever, it is good to take anti-inflammatories immediately. “There ability of anti-inflammatories to stop Covid disease at the first symptoms is now documented convincingly in literature ”explains Remuzzi.
He and his team have managed to produce two studies on the subject, and other works conducted elsewhere in the world also confirm their results: they indicate that a very important reduction in the severity of the disease and hospitalization can be achieved. “The problem is that there is no definitive study like those done by the industry, which have all the characteristics of controlled studies. And then it cannot be expected that something not definitive is suggested by the regulatory authorities ”.
Regarding anti-inflammatories, Remuzzi and his research team have published two studies, one of which is under peer review but already available in a preprint version on the Medrxiv platform. “They are not perfect, because they are prospective studies as regards the part of the active treatment, but the part of the control group is represented by a historical group, for which the doctors at the beginning of the pandemic followed other indications “.
In other words, the two patient groups were not studied at the same time. Both jobs have the same problem of having retrospective checks. The first evaluated two groups of 90 patients respectively, the second 2 groups of 108. Both, however, proved the same thing: one 90% reduction in the need for hospitalization.
What drugs to take right away
What is the “Recipe” used by Remuzzi? “We use nimesulide and ibuprofen, and aspirin for those who are intolerant to the first two. Then there is another study published in the Lancet about one nasal spray, or an anti-asthma preparation, which achieves the same results as our work: a very important reduction in the severity of the disease and hospitalization. And, again, we have Indian studies also confirmed by researches done in Italy, onindomethacin, which is another anti-inflammatory “.
Today the Aifa recommendations already contemplate the use of anti-inflammatories but only for those with muscle pain, which ultimately are a problem that unites a bit all those who have Covid. If the definitive data confirm what is already documented in the literature about their validity as an early weapon, “then they could be the basis for future recommendations”.
But beware: anti-inflammatories should also be taken under medical supervision, warns the director of Mario Negri, who also points out how “essential” it is for the doctor to go home, visit the patient and then keep him monitored by telephone.
The great news today is that finally Remuzzi is in contact with the Aifa-Italian Medicines Agency to set up a very large study, “Which has all the characteristics necessary to have no objections and to be considered as a basis for future recommendations”.
Do Vaccines Work Against Variants?
Obviously today, thanks to vaccines, our approach to the virus is changing: we are less afraid of contracting it, no doubt, because we know we are protected from the risk of serious illness or even death. However, in some cases the virus can draw confused, unexpected and dangerous trajectories. We can and must therefore work to ensure that the outcome of the disease is as rapid and painless as possible.
Today that the Omicron variant is now largely predominant in our country (here the 8 “spy” symptoms and when to swab), in line with what has already been reported in other European countries (nationally estimated at 95.8%, according to the ISS survey of 17 January 2022, but the Delta, detected in 4.2% of the samples, is still estimated at around 10-15% in some Regions, thus representing a still significant share of cases), we know that contagions run much more easily. It means that, even if the disease is less scary, increasing the total number of infections also increases the number of cases at risk. It is the famous “paradox effect”.
But do vaccines also work against variants? Preliminary data suggest that the Omicron variant would be able to reduce the effectiveness of vaccines against infection, transmission and symptomatic disease, especially in those who have completed the course of two doses for more than 120 days.
Although the protection provided by vaccination decreases over time, however, vaccines remain highly effective in preventing severe manifestations caused by Covid and its variants, even several months after the complete vaccination cycle.
People who are fully vaccinated have a significantly lower risk of developing a serious form of disease or needing hospitalization than people who have not been vaccinated or have been vaccinated for a long time.
Furthermore, the third booster dose given months after a complete vaccination course can restore the initial protection provided by vaccination, even in the presence of new variants such as Omicron (here when to vaccinate children, even after Covid).