How We Think About Covid-19 is Changing
The WHO’s director of Global Infectious Hazard Preparedness, Dr Sylvie Briand, says there’s no magic, life-saving “bullet” when it comes to Covid-19.
“It’s very hard to say there is one the magic bullet that will save everybody. It’s not like that. It’s much more complex”.
She adds, “Now we know that there is really a lot, a lot of possibilities for this virus to attack the human body. And then the symptoms are many different types.”
Sylvie says managing the course of the disease at the early stage would save many more lives.
“What is important to understand as well is that we are trying to improve also the testing. What kind of tests help us to diagnose the disease much earlier and with more certainty as well. And we are also improving on markers of severity, because if we can predict somehow at the beginning of the disease, if the patient may go to a later stage of the infection and have a severe disease, it will help also to provide better care and not be surprised by some people suddenly worsening and requiring ICU immediately. While if we can better manage the course of the disease at the early stage I think we would save many more lives.”
Sylvie says she’s now looking at the different elements that enable a country to have a lower number of deaths.
“It’s not only what you do, sometimes at this level there is no difference, but it’s really how you do it. What is the particular point that makes the difference? For instance, we have seen a lot of nosocomial outbreaks, outbreaks in hospitals. So maybe part of the mortality is due to the fact that the virus is brought into the hospital and infects patients that have other underlying conditions that are already in very… have another very severe illness. And so the Covid-19 on top of the other illness also is very bad for those patients. It might be certain things like that that makes a difference. And so we would like really to better understand what are the reasons behind high or low mortality.”
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