At the Aviator’s House, an important scientific update event on the clinical problems caused by Covid-19
Wednesday 14 June, at the Casa dell’Aviatore in Rome, the scientific conference “From COVID to Long COVID: clinical aspects and prevention in the aviation sector”, organised by the’Institute of Aerospace Medicine of the Air Force IMA of Rome, intended for military and civilian doctors, nurses, and psychologists.
The event, chaired by Brigadier General Fabio Morgagni, Director of IMA, which was held under the patronage of ENAC and CESMA to highlight the multidisciplinary nature of the subject, addressed the clinical problems caused by Covid-19 in its acute and, above all, long-term phases, with a particular focus on prognostic markers and the impact on the assessment of fitness to fly, with the aim of starting to identify useful elements for the diagnosis and, above all, for the clinical and prognostic framework of a pathology whose evolutionary possibilities are still undefined.
During the pandemic emergency, Aeronautical Health Services and the Armed Forces themselves were an integral part of the alert system, actively contributing to confronting the critical events caused by the spread of the virus. The integration of the military component with other elements of the country's healthcare system was highlighted by the presence of authoritative institutional speakers from Department of Health, from the’IRCSS Italian National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani, from Italian Red Cross, from the’“La Sapienza” University” and from the’Order of Physicians of Palermo.
The conference aimed to bring together experts from various sectors, including medicine, Public health, Air safety, psychology, to discuss the challenges faced during the pandemic. The clinical aspects of long-term COVID-19 infection in aviation personnel, prevention strategies for air travel, aircraft disinfection protocols, and other related topics were discussed during the event.
Of particular interest was the round table discussion where young doctors and nurses in uniform presented various clinical experiences in the field of Aviation Medicine, based on real case studies highlighted in flight and non-flight personnel, during periodic visits or post-infection observation.
The importance of the event was also highlighted by the speeches of important military authorities, primarily the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Air Squadrone General Luca Goretti, who in his opening speech highlighted how the contribution of Military Healthcare, and in particular of the air force's healthcare, proved indispensable during the pandemic, especially in the sector of High bio-containment transport, and how the developed capacity should today be an impetus to improve in order to be ready to face any new epidemics.’Inspector General of Military Health, Major General Vito Ferrara, thanking the AM for its contribution to military healthcare during the pandemic, highlighted the crucial role played by the Armed Force, finally the Chief Inspector General Giuseppe Ciniglio Appiani, head of the Air Force Corps and Health Service, instead praised the scientific value of the conference, particularly regarding the after-effects of Covid-19 and their relation to flight activity.
