Pope Francis has seen some positive
signs that his double pneumonia is responding to antibiotic
treatment but his recovery will take a long time, an expert told
ANSA Thursday.
The slight improvement in inflammatory indices highlighted by
the latest analyses carried out on Pope Francis is "undoubtedly
a positive sign, which indicates a response to the antibiotic
therapy in progress," said Francesco Blasi, full professor of
Respiratory Diseases at the University of Milan and head of the
Complex Structure of Pneumology and Cystic Fibrosis at the Milan
Polyclinic.
"However, the process will probably be long, since the
management of bilateral pneumonia requires several days, if not
weeks, to be under control".
In the blood tests, the expert explains, "some inflammatory
indices are measured in particular, namely procalcitonin,
C-reactive protein and the level of white blood cells. The fact
that these indices are improving means that the infection that
has attacked both lungs of the pontiff is gradually coming under
control and there is a response from the body to the infection".
In other words, the fears linked to the risk of a lack of
efficacy of the therapies or of a possible resistance to the
antibiotics in use are being alleviated: "The data released
regarding the lowering, albeit slight, of the inflammatory
indices - Blasi specifies - indicate precisely that the
antibiotics currently used are working and the body is
responding". Bilateral pneumonia, which struck the pontiff, "is
an infection caused by infectious agents, such as bacteria, and
the infection affects the deep lung. In these cases - the
pulmonologist clarifies - the body's response is inflammatory.
This means that the body defends itself from the attack of
bacteria through an immune reaction that is also inflammatory.
Therefore, on the one hand the inflammatory reaction is
positive, on the other hand, however, an excess of inflammatory
response damages the lung because in addition to determining the
elimination of bacteria it also leads, at the same time, to
killing the lung cells themselves. A very problematic aspect is
precisely represented by the excess of inflammatory response
that the body puts in place in these cases to defend itself".
For this reason, he notes, it is essential to be able to reach a
"balance" through therapy: "When antibiotic drugs prove
effective, as in the case of the Pope according to the news
released so far, the bacteria are eliminated and therefore the
organism no longer needs to react with an inflammatory response
of self-defense."
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