Italian athlete narrates coronavirus experience

• Says ‘I found myself spitting blood’
• Gives details on symptoms, treatment

A young Italian athlete, Edoardo Melloni, who tested positive to the dreaded COVID-19 or coronavirus, has shared his experience with aipsmedia.com.

Dressed in hospital tunics and a mask, Melloni’s post has left many people dismayed, finding themselves faced with the declaration of him testing positive to the dreaded coronavirus.

Now, while in the media literature, the coronavirus has been described as a pandemic shaped on the elderly, but we have found ourselves in front of an athlete, who was in excellent health, in excellent condition.

Edo, as he is fondly called, is one of the best athletes of the Cus Pro Patria Milano and was recently a beneficiary of an internship in Kenya. We asked for an interview from this first level athlete, who is currently hospitalized at the Sacco Hospital in Milan, one of the places for which the disease has become sadly known.

The interview was intended to make everyone understand what it means to be infected with COVID-19, where may have been the place of infection, and Edoardo’s current condition….

Hi Edo: How do you feel, can you reassure us of your condition?
– I’m fine. Fortunately I was sent to the emergency room in time, where they later found pneumonia and I also tested positive for the virus. Luckily everything was in the initial phase and we are all confident in a short time I will be able to get out of here.

What were the symptoms you had and what happened in the various phases up to hospitalization: what stages did you face in this disease?
– Given that the symptoms are subjective and vary from person to person, it all started with a banal fever at 37.5 and a little cough. The cough became increasingly intense until it began to last even 5/10 consecutive minutes. Strong and dry. During one of these episodes, I found myself spitting blood and that was the moment I was sent to the emergency room.

Another symptom not to be underestimated is the total or partial loss of taste and smell. At the hospital, Sacco detected these symptoms in two out of three patients. They are symptoms that can also appear in people who do not develop other symptoms such as cough or fever, therefore they are useful for self-evaluation. As far as I’m concerned, the loss of taste has been total. Still they are not able to distinguish a piece of chocolate, boiled carrots and pasta with sauce.

Is it possible to know how they are treating you, with what treatments? If they have side effects?
– They decided to give me the therapy, which was also largely used in hospitals in Wuhan. It is a combination of medications used for arthritis and HIV-infected patients. The medications are hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir / ritonavir. Among the side effects they report is dysentery that occurred on the first day. Already from the second day it is much better. I don’t feel any further effects on my body.
Did you go to crowded places? or better … where do you think you could have contracted the virus, if it is something you can deduce from your daily life or what risky places do you think you have frequented?

– I had isolated myself from the social way well before it was made mandatory by the various DPCMs. I was working from home and went out early in the morning to train in Parco Nord. For those unfamiliar with it, it is a very large park in Milan. On Monday 9, I had to go to work to retrieve some documents I needed and to leave the company car. To get back I took the subway and I really believe that the infection occurred there, because the symptoms appeared three days after this event.

What is life like in the hospital … is it possible to get an overview of it, to understand what a patient hospitalized for this disease has to face?

Upon arrival at the hospital the oxygen saturation in my blood was measured (I think it was 95). I was given a chest x-ray that showed an ongoing pneumonia. I was given an emergency swab (with a result that comes after about 10 hours instead of the normal 24/36). Finally I was given an electrocardiogram.

After the evaluation by the infectious disease specialist, they decided to hospitalize me. Arriving in the room, I met the doctor who explained the experimental therapy to me and asked for consent to the administration. After accepting, I started the therapy. Our room is separated from the corridor by a second room where doctors, nurses and service personnel must change before entering. They wear overalls, double masks and plastic visors that cover the entire face. You almost feel guilty when you realize the risk you are exposing him to in the moment.
Culled from aipsmedia.com