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The role of pathology in COVID-19
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Rudolf Virchow (1821 – 1902) is not only called the father of modern pathology but as well the founder of social medicine. In 1874 he introduced a standardized technique for performing autopsies, often revealing unsuspected lesions1. As well, he coined the concept of medical malpractice as “violation of the recognized rules of the art of healing due to a lack of proper attention or caution“.
At this stage, we should emphasise the doubts Ledford highlighted in Nature2: Clinical data indicate, that it might not be the virus itself, but the response of the individual immune system, which overwhelms the stability of the human. But by the race of treatments, medical professional try to support their patients with cocktails of unproven therapies in a desperate bid to save lives.
More than a month later, we do not have more base data as Ioannidis has begged for “The data collected so far on how many people are infected and how the epidemic is evolving are utterly unreliable. Given the limited testing to date, some deaths and probably the vast majority of infections due to SARS-CoV-2 are being missed. We don’t know if we are failing to capture infections by a factor of three or 300.”3
On this background it is difficult to understand, that major European institution do not recommend to perform autopsy! The English pathologist limit the necessity in cases with confirmed COVI-19. Similar is the reaction of Italy: Autopsies or...Competing Interests: None declared.References
- . The role of pathology in COVID-19. 2020;:-.
- 2. Krieger Na: Embodying Inequality, Epidemilogic perspective. Routledge, 2017 page 31. ISBN 13: 978-0-89503-294-2 (hbk)
- 3. Ledford H. 2020: How does COVID-19 kill? Uncertainty is hampering doctors’ ability to choose treatments. Nature 580, 311-312 (2020). doi: 10.1038/d41586-020-01056-7
- 4. Ioannidis J: A fiasco in the making? As the coronavirus pandemic takes hold, we are making decisions without reliable data. https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/a-fiasco-in-the-making-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-takes-hold-we-are-making-decisions-withou
- 5. von der Thüsen J, van der Eerden M. Histopathology and genetic susceptibility in COVID-19 pneumonia. Eur J Clin Invest. 2020 Apr 30. doi: 10.1111/eci.13259. [Epub ahead of print]