CDC hasn't revealed information to doctors that would help coronavirus patients

[spanone]

(CNN) - As new cases of coronavirus arise daily in the United States -- including several announced over the weekend and one death -- the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has failed to release crucial information physicians say could help save the lives of Americans diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.

Several US patients have recovered from coronavirus, but so far, the CDC has shared detailed clinical information about only one of those patients. That information includes what treatments the patients received and how they fared.

The CDC is the federal agency that communicates with physicians about how to handle outbreaks. Whether it's SARS, Ebola or last year's measles outbreak, the agency uses information from cases around the world -- and in particular the United States -- to advise doctors on how to diagnose, evaluate and treat diseases.

The federal agency possesses such information about several US coronavirus patients, but has not released it. That means doctors who now unexpectedly find themselves treating new coronavirus patients aren't able to benefit from the findings of doctors who preceded them.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/01/health/coronvirus-patient-research-cdc/index.html

[I_UndergroundPanther]

1. Trump

Murderer by proxy.

Piece of shit he is. I hope he catches the covid 19 and the best medical care cannot save him.

[YOHABLO]

2. He's more worried about his image and getting elected.

[Karadeniz]

3. Good grief.

[defacto7]

4. Doctors had better start reaching out to other countries

and sources. The US Federal government has become untrustworthy.

[uponit7771]

7. It's almost like the Kremlin KKKLan is doing it on purpose

[defacto7]

8. I don't like to say it but it seems like it.

I can speculate a lot of things but they're not worth mentioning. Seems like sci-fi.

[Habibi]

5. Man, I'm confused.

There were two local health officials quoted in this article who spoke about articles containing this information, but there was some kind of wait to publish them. They have to publish them to medical journals before they can release the info to other doctors? Am I missing something?

[Igel]

9. Get permission.

Remember privacy is a constitutional right. Before you publish, you get the patient's signature. Otherwise you strip out as much information as possible and hope that there's no court case.

Plus the details aren't as important as the generalizations.

Imagine, "59 year old male, Asian, non-smoker, 5'9" and 180 lbs, presented with high fever. Developed viral pneumonia, treated per standard protocol."

Now you're looking at a 70-year-old woman with diabetes at 120 lbs, no fever. What, exactly, does the details tell you that the standard protocol doesn't.

"Affects primarily those over 60 with pre-existing conditions. Infects lower respiratory tract and intestinal tract. Might present with high fever, dry cough, or, less frequently, diarrhea. Often leads to lower respiratory tract infections, frequently viral, requiring additional intervention."

It's when the individual case *doesn't* follow standard protocol that it's a big deal. And then the health wonks look over the information and decide if the treatment was the cause of the improvement, slowed it, or improved it. Otherwise it's like two church people, one of whom swore that she got over the flu because all she drank for 2 days was cabbage juice, and the other who swore the same thing, but all he drank for two days was Miller. My response was that all I did for 2 days was whatever I wanted, because the worst of the symptoms last for 2 days in just about every case. If I'd killed a chicken and whirled it over my head while chanting "Adon olam", naked and doing squat thrusts it still would have taken 2 days.

If every detail was important, every year there'd be the massive tome, "Treating the Flu, winter 2019/20" running to 500k pages with a 1/4th page write-up for each of the millions of people who go to the doctor for the flu. And people who'd go to the doctor in 2020/21 with volume 293, jabbing their finger at the third paragraph on page 535 saying, "That's the treatment I want given what was posted on that one website!" Instead we have this massive cover-up, I guess.

[uponit7771]

6. Or leadership is inept, that's what's most scary

[Talitha]

11. What leadership?

[keithbvadu2]

10. Now, what politician named Pence is in charge of all this?

Now, what politician named Pence is in charge of all this?