The 2019–2020 coronavirus pandemic in Italy: immunologic and cultural hurdles on the road to a cure

Currently, Italy is the country most seriously affected in the world by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). As of 30 March 2020, our Government certified that 31% of the worldwide deaths were from Italy (11,591 out of 36,500 cases) with the highest mortality rate (11.4%) compared the global rate of 4.7%. Over the last weeks, several Italian hospitals adhered to international experimental investigations on off-label drugs, such as tocilizumab, an anti-IL-6 receptor monoclonal antibody and remdesivir, a nucleotide analog originally used against Ebola virus disease, and artificial active immunization (vaccines creation). To our great surprise, in our country, minimal medical and community attention has been riveted on passive immunity (immunoglobulin therapy).