Doctors are puzzled: the death rate of ventilated Covid-19 patients is higher. New York doctors rely on alternatives.
- The corona virus * kills thousands of people
- Doctors are becoming increasingly cautious about the use of ventilators
- Our guide through the reporting: latest case numbers *, symptoms occurring * and possible protective measures *.
Munich - Whether in New York, England or China : Doctors are puzzling over a possible connection between ventilators and a higher death rate among Covid-19 infected people. As doctors from these countries report, apparently significantly more people die from the consequences of the coronavirus if they are intubated.
So was the big cry for ventilators for nothing? In the United States, for example, pressure on the government has recently increased. She was accused of not giving ventilators from the emergency reserves. The state of Washington sent 400 ventilators to the hard-hit city of New York .
Coronavirus and ventilators: Doctors suspect increasing mortality from intubation
Tesla and Dyson changed their production for the corona crisis: respiratory devices are manufactured instead of e-cars and vacuum cleaners. Clinics equipped themselves to be technically well prepared for the big wave of Sars-CoV-2 patients. But now doctors from the United States in particular want the opposite.
Experts say that patients connected to ventilators have a high death rate: 40 to 50 percent of intubated patients die from severe respiratory distress syndromes. This figure is even higher in corona patients. In the city of New York, 80 percent of the infected people connected to ventilators died.
Corona crisis: 80 percent of ventilated patients in New York City died
Albert Rizzo of the American Lung Association confirmed several such above-average death rates in parts of the United States. China and the UK also report numbers that support this theory: A report from London reports of 1053 intubated Covid-19 patients, only 355 survivors.
Wuhan , the city of the pandemic outbreak, gives figures from a small study. Of the 22 ventilated patients there, 19 succumbed to the consequences of the coronavirus. But where does the connection come from?
Researchers don't know. A possible reason could be the condition of the patient before the illness or at the time of connection to a ventilator. Some doctors also speculate about a possible harmful reaction of the immune system , triggered by the ventilator.
Corona crisis: Researchers disagree about ventilators
Some doctors are now trying to delay the use of ventilators for as long as possible. Measures such as the addition of nitrogen oxides or storage techniques should initially help. Patients can be placed on the stomach, for example, to better ventilate parts of the lungs.
New York emergency medical specialist Joseph Habboushe told the Associated Press news agency, "If we can make patients improve without having to intubate them, they'll have a better chance of recovery - we suspect."
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