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Researchers recommend kidney transplant recipients continue getting COVID-19 vaccinations

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Although COVID-19 vaccines lower the risk of infection among kidney transplant recipients, breakthrough infections can occur, and researchers recommend patients continue to receive boosters when available.

“The SARS-CoV-2 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines have shown high clinical efficacy in preventing COVID-19 in the immunocompetent population,” Ivan Zahradka, MD, from the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine in the Czech Republic, and colleagues wrote. They added, “However, data about the effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are conflicting, and to what extent the two doses of an mRNA vaccine protect [kidney transplant recipients] KTRs from COVID-19 is unclear.” Read the full story in Healio.

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Racial disparities in death due to COVID-19 persist among lung transplant recipients in US

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Racial disparities in COVID-19 mortality persist in the U.S. among lung transplant recipients, according to data presented at the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions.

“Our group was interested in trying to look at disparities and come up with ways of not only identifying but finding ways to intervene to decrease the disparities observed within the cardiac surgery population, which lung transplant recipients fall into,” Stanley B. Wolfe, MD, cardiac research fellow in surgery at the Corrigan Minehan Heart Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, told Healio. “We know that the transplant population, whether it be lung, heart, kidney, etc., have very close follow-up compared to a standard patient, but they also are immunosuppressed, which increases your overall risk of getting severe COVID-19, as well as dying from COVID-19.” Read the full story in Healio.

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COVID-19 Vaccination Safe, Lowers Risk of Infection in Heart Transplant Recipients

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These findings suggest the importance of COVID-19 vaccination for patients with OHT.

New findings suggest patients with orthotopic heart transplant (OHT) who are infected with SARS-CoV-2 are at greater risk of severe infection and death in comparison to immunocompetent individuals, making COVID-19 vaccination an important priority.

In fact, COVID-19 vaccination had associations with fewer symptomatic COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths and no heart transplant-specific adverse events.
Read the complete story in HCPLive here.

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COVID-19 vaccines appear less effective among patients with antibody deficiencies

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Patients with antibody deficiencies demonstrated reduced immunogenicity following vaccination against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to a study published in Journal of Clinical Immunology.

These findings demonstrate the ongoing risk that the virus presents these patients, Adrian M. Shields, MBBS, MRCP, PhD, clinical lecturer at University of Birmingham Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy in the United Kingdom, and colleagues wrote.
Read more in Healio.

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COVID-19 and kidney disease: insights from epidemiology to inform clinical practice

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Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous studies have aimed to address the challenges faced by patients with kidney disease and their caregivers. These studies addressed areas of concern such as the high infection and mortality risk of patients on in-centre haemodialysis and transplant recipients. However, the ability to draw meaningful conclusions from these studies has in some instances been challenging, owing to barriers in aspects of usual care, data limitations and problematic methodological practices.
Read more in Nature here.

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COVID in the Donor Organ: What’s the Risk?

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— In small sample, donors gave infection to lung recipients, yet not to other organ recipients

Three U.S. lung transplant recipients contracted COVID-19 from their new organs, including one patient who died and two patients who transmitted the virus to others, researchers found.

From March 2020 to March 2021, nine SARS-CoV-2 infected donors donated organs to 19 recipients. Three individuals who received bilateral lungs acquired infections from the donors but the remaining 16 recipients of extra-pulmonary organs did not, reported Rebecca Free, MD, MPH, of the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues.
Read more in MedPage Today.

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How has COVID-19 affected Organ Transplantation?

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The retrovirus coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had a profound impact on all facets of the medical industry. Media and medical experts alike have held a keen focus on, and have requested the aid of otolaryngologists, virologists, and general respiratory equipment. However, many auxiliary branches of medicine are being affected by the COVID-19 virus. Read the complete article in News Medical.

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Patients with CKD report COVID-19 negatively affected mental health, quality of care

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BOSTON — Patients with chronic kidney disease reported the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected their mental health and quality of health care, according to a poster presented at the National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meetings.

“We did a study to look at the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and the quality of health care in patients with diabetes,” Neil Roy, MBBS, from the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, told Healio. Read the full story in Healio.

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A glimpse into my journey: Lung transplantation for COVID-19

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Prior to November of 2020, if approached with the term ECMO or the words ventilator, tracheostomy, or lung transplant, I would have had a grossly rudimentary knowledge of most. Fast forward to January 2021, this would dramatically change as I would have an intimate understanding of what these were. In retrospect, this understanding comes with a high degree of respect for these tools and the people who use them to keep people alive. And that is exactly what they did for me.

In November of 2020, I contracted SARS-CoV-2, which resulted in my developing Covid-19. The disease ran unapologetically through my body. I had all the classic systems: sore throat, fever, body aches as I have never experienced and horrible fatigue. Realizing I was dealing with something worse than a common cold, I went to my primary care physician for a Covid test. I was instructed to isolate and rest as I waited for the results. After a day of having all these symptoms, I knew this test was going to be positive; and it was.
Read the full editorial in Wiley Online Library.

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