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| The margin of error for the 3-D printing, shown here, of Venturi respirator valves is tiny (AFP Photo/Handout) |
Rome (AFP) - They may not be a miracle cure or a vaccine, but respirator valves from 3-D printers have helped coronavirus patients breathe a little easer in the Italian epicentre of COVID-19.
Italy has
thrown everything at a pandemic that has killed more than 6,000 people in just
a month, more than anywhere else.
Hospitals
in the northern Italian heart of the outbreak have had to make life-and-death
decisions about which patients to try and save, and which to send home.
There are
not enough beds, doctors, equipment -- and the severe cases keep flooding in.
Italy's
death rate slowed slightly between Saturday and Monday, giving a glimmer of
hope that the end is in sight.
Still, the
Mediterranean country registered more than 2,000 fatalities and 16,000
confirmed infections in the three-day span.
Currently,
more than 3,200 intensive care patients are receiving treatment for COVID-19.
Into this
unfolding disaster stepped Alessandro Romaioli, a young engineer from an
Italian company called Isinnova, which specialises in 3-D printing.
The
company's usual products include earthquake sensors and bicycle parts.
But that
changed when a local newspaper in Brescia, where the death and infection rates
are among the highest in the world, contacted Romaioli and his startup, trying
to find ways to help the city's overwhelmed hospital.
"They
were asking if it was possible to 3-D-print Venturi valves" -- a critical
part of a respirator machine -- Romaioli told AFP in a Skype interview from
Brescia.
Romaioli
had no idea.
The
Isinnova team went to the hospital for a closer look at the part. They then
drafted a blueprint for use by the 3-D printer.
No one was
sure it would work because the margin of error for such valves is tiny.
"We
printed four prototypes and brought them back to the hospital," Romaioli
said. "And they told us they worked."
'Fantastic!'
The Brescia
hospital staff were ecstatic.
"They
tested them on patients and the results were excellent. They told us:
'Fantastic! Now we need 100 more of these'."
Mauro
Borelli, the hospital director, was effusive in his praise for the printers.
"Our
respirator valves had run out and we no longer knew how to give oxygen to our
patients," Romaioli told the Il Fatto Quotidiano daily.
"The
3-D printing saved us."
Isinnova
has also adapted diving masks so that they can be connected to respirators, and
numerous other companies are trying to give a similar helping hand.
Calzedonia,
an Italian fashion brand that usually makes lingerie and hosiery, said its
plants began daily production of 10,000 face masks on Monday.
It promises
to ramp up production to help meet seemingly endless demand.
Other
companies retooling their equipment to help battle the stealth killer include
Macron, an Italian sports apparel company, which is using its factories in
China to produce masks, gloves and doctors' gowns.
The
Italian-American automaker Fiat-Chrysler, which has suspended production across
Europe, has pledged to make one million masks by May.
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