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Covid-19: surge in cases in Italy and South Korea makes pandemic look more likely

BMJ 2020; 368 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m751 (Published 25 February 2020) Cite this as: BMJ 2020;368:m751

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Re: Covid-19: surge in cases in Italy and South Korea makes pandemic look more likely

Dear Editor,

We early used Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and, at the moment, have no news of COVID-19 in our patients. In two cases of haemoptysis we prescribed by phone levofloxacin 500 mg once a day for ten days (1). Many patients call us to say that they have flu like symtoms. However, we think the most important topic is in this double quotation: “The practitioner who is treating it on sure principles, and which only require time to lead to a successful result, is forced to give place and it only remains for him, like Chancellor Oxenstiern, to exclaim Quam parva sapientia regitur mundus! This is undoubtedly a common occurrence in all disease[..]” (2).

Yours sincerely,

Giuseppe Paolo Mazzarello, M.D.
Sergio Sommariva, M.D.

References

1. Zhang J, Zhou L, Yang Y, Peng W, Wang W, Chen X
Therapeutic and triage strategies for 2019 novel coronavirus disease in fever clinics.
Lancet. 2020; (published online Feb 13.
https://doi.org./10.1016/S2213-2600(20)30071-0.)
2. The Dublin Journal of Medical Sciences, 1836-1845, Vol. 15-16.

Competing interests: No competing interests

13 March 2020
Giuseppe Paolo Mazzarello
General Practioner
Sommariva Sergio
ASL 3 Genovese
16100 Genoa, Italy