An organization of doctors has suggested to the government that it lower its guard against new variants of Covid-19.
“Covid and the flu are here to stay. We want to control respiratory infections as we return to normal life,” said Dr. Ralph Villalobos, a pulmonary medicine specialist at the University of the Philippines General Hospital, at the recent Philippine College of Convention of Chest Physicians.
Villalobos also warned the public that he opposes complacency in the face of mobility restrictions and increased economic activity in the country. He is also under pressure for the government to pursue a competitive vaccination program to protect the population from new variants and long-term outbreaks.
The Department of Health said it had detected its first case of Omicron BA. 2. 12, a Covid subvariant responsible for the number of cases in the United States.
At the conference aptly titled “Innovating with the Speed of Need,” Dr. Rontgene Solante, Head of the Department of Adult Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine and the San Lázaro Hospital Fellowship Program, unveiled the other features for the treatment of influenza.
Among the antiviral drugs recommended for the treatment of influenza are oseltamivir, baloxavir, zanamivir and peramivir, he said. In addition, Solante said they had no significant interactions with COVID-19 medications, especially with tocilizumab, remdesivir or any other drug such as steroids. .
“It’s vital to control the flu, especially in the viral phase,” Solante said. “When this opportunity to treat the viral phase is missed, the remedy may no longer be effective. “
“When you have patients with the flu, with covid-19, the threat of overlapping infections is greater in the flu than in covid-19,” Solante added.
Meanwhile, monoclonal antibodies available in the Philippines, such as casirivimab and imdevimab, a drug with emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, can be administered at any time once the patient develops symptoms within seven days of their onset.
The drug has been shown to prevent the progression of serious infections in patients by up to 50 to 60 percent, Dr. Solante said.
“Early interventions can prevent patients from being hospitalized or prevent high-risk patients from developing severe COVID-19,” he added.
Dr. Jubert Benedicto, Vice President of Patient Services, Department of Medicine, University of the Philippines – Philippine General Hospital, said the World Health Organization has asked countries to prepare for influenza and Covid-19 cocirculation.
“Frontline doctors want to know if they are primarily facing an influenza infection,” he said. “Surveillance studies are needed because the two diseases can provide similar results. infection.
In addition, the additional tests are especially for flu patients because they have a great threat of contracting bacterial superinfections, he said.
He pressed the importance of access in terms of doing proper diagnostic tests to have the public. “We have to mobilize everything,” he said. The total diversity of the fitness system. “
Previously, Dr. Anna Ong-Lim, an associate professor and pediatrician at the University of the Philippines, Philippine General Hospital and current president of the Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases of the Philippines, said in an interview with an online news portal that other people deserve to think twice before taking antibiotics for flu-like symptoms. because recurrent exposure and suboptimal treatment can contribute to drug resistance.
“This may generate other threats to fitness and contribute to the next pandemic,” he said.
She believes that on the occasion of a new Outbreak of Covid, the public will have fitness professionals to get the country out of any crisis.
“Life doesn’t prevent because those diseases are there,” he said. “We will move from an emergency reaction to a pandemic to a mindset that perceives Covid-19 as something that will remain and be informed to live with it anywhere possible. “she said.