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A patient admitted to the Grand Metropolitan Hospital of Reggio Calabria with suspected botulism and the antitoxin available in less than two hours thanks to the transfer of a vial from the Annunziata of Cosenza. This is what happened last night, according to a note from the Health and Health Services department of the Calabria Region.
The rapid transfer was made possible by the agreement between the Calabria Region and the Ministry of Health, which identified the Annunziata Intensive Care Unit as the authorized micro-depot for the storage of the botulinum antitoxin.
Clinical suspicion and contact with the Poison Control Center
Following the clinical suspicion, the health workers of Reggio Calabria activated the planned procedure, contacting the Poison Control Center of Pavia, which indicated the administration of the antitoxin.
Thanks to the presence of the drug in the regional territory, the Gom was able to have it available in less than two hours, avoiding the longer times that would have been necessary for the transfer from national warehouses located outside Calabria.
The microdepot created after the botulism emergency of 2025
The availability of the antitoxin in Cosenza is the result of the agreement reached after the botulism emergency of August 2025. On that occasion it was necessary to activate extraordinary transfers of the antivenom from outside the region, initially from the military pharmacy of Taranto and subsequently through the national system of strategic stocks.
The botulinum antitoxin, the note recalls, is part of the national strategic stock of antidotes and drugs of the Ministry of Health and is subjected to specific conservation and custody procedures in military pharmacies.
Precisely that experience led the president of the Calabria Region, Roberto Occhiuto, to work with the Ministry of Health to build a faster system that is closer to the needs of the territory.
Bruni: «A security tool for the Calabrian hospital network»
“What happened demonstrates the value of the agreement reached: having identified our Unit as an authorized microdepot for the storage of the antitoxin means being able to have direct access to a life-saving drug in the regional territory which, in the past, had to be transferred from structures located hundreds of kilometers away”, declared Andrea Bruni, director of the complex intensive care and anesthesiology operational unit of the Annunziata in Cosenza.
«In botulism – underlined Bruni – the speed of the intervention is fundamental. The fact that tonight it was possible to get the antitoxin to the Gom in Reggio Calabria in less than two hours represents concrete demonstration of the effectiveness of this choice. The microdepot is not just a logistical solution, but a health safety tool serving the entire Calabrian hospital network.”