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Aftenposten (a Norwegian broadsheet) published an opinion piece today arguing that the high number of deaths is partly due to the multiresistant bacteria that a
by Arnt 7y ago
Aftenposten (a Norwegian broadsheet) published an opinion piece today arguing that the high number of deaths is partly due to the multiresistant bacteria that are endemic to many Italian hospitals.
Abbreviating: Italy has 11k deaths per year due to multiresistent bacteria. Severe pneumonia often/usually features secondary infections that need antibiotics. A large wave of pneumonia, particularly a form with which the hospitals have little experience, offers those multiresistant bacteria a Great Chance.
- scotty79 7y agoDoes Italy have greater seasonal flu mortality than other countries?
- toss1 7y agoGood question, I don't know about seasonal flu, but here's data a few calcs on this pandemic: According to Johns Hopkins tracking site now (2020-March-23 4:00 PM EDT) (1) Global deaths = 18,557 / cases = 414,227: rate calculates to: 4.47% Italy deaths = 6,820 / cases = 69,176: rate calculates to: 9.85% USA deaths = 674 / cases = 51,542: rate calculates to: 1.3% Beyond the obvious shortcomings and inconsistencies of testing in counting the cases, another strong caveat in counting the deaths in a rapidly developing situation is the lag - e.g., the USA is a few weeks behind Italy on the curve, and it takes time for the disease to kill (i.e., we don't know how many US cases are doomed and will be counted as deaths in a few days) (1) https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6 https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594...
- scotty79 7y agoI think most mortality rates of covid are pure speculation right now because we use confirmed cases as denominator and in most cases we have no idea how confirmed cases relate to true number of infections.
- blaser-waffle 7y agoI've seen stats in other threads (cuz HN is about 80% COVID threads these days) that implied that the Italian population was about 22% elderly, which is on the higher end. Compare that to about 11-13% in China, or about 17% in Canada. That also meant they had, even during "normal" times, higher rates of fatalities from the Flu and extreme temperatures e.g. heatwaves killing elderly people with no AC or mobility, freezing in blizzards, etc.. See also: https://data.oecd.org/pop/elderly-population.htm https://data.oecd.org/pop/elderly-population.htm
- kwhitefoot 7y agoIn case anyone would like to read it themselves you can find it here: https://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kronikk/i/awEP27/derfor-tar-koronaviruset-saa-mange-liv-i-italia-erik-martiniussen https://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kronikk/i/awEP27/derfor-... Google Translate does a fair job of turning into English: https://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kronikk/i/awEP27/derfor-tar-koronaviruset-saa-mange-liv-i-italia-erik-martiniussen https://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kronikk/i/awEP27/derfor-... No idea how good it is at other languages.
- commandlinefan 7y agoThat would suggest that you actually have a better chance of surviving if you stay away from the hospital.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- DoreenMichele 7y agoPeople might find the story in The Hot Zone interesting. I read it years ago. I googled it recently and it was available online for free in PDF form. It's mostly about Ebola. The pertinent detail here is that tribal elders told people to stop going to the white man's hospital and that helped stop it (as just one detail of an overall strategy). (I completely misread the comment I'm replying to the first go round. If you have an email notification of a nutty sounding reply, I apologise.)
- Arnt 7y agoYour response assumes that suffering from an ~untreated hospital-worthy primary disease is better than a treated primary disease plus a difficult secondary infection.
- woodandsteel 7y agoIf Italy has such a problem with multiresistent bacteria, then how come it is able to have such a high proportion of elderly people?