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Kidney transplant recipients may have immune-insufficiency during acute COVID-19

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Kidney transplant recipients experience immune-insufficiency during acute COVID-19, which may explain the low rates of acute rejection among these patients even with reduced immunosuppression, according to a recently published study.

“Immunosuppressed kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) are largely reported to have poor outcomes compared to non-transplant patients. Since immunosuppression could inhibit the development of protective anti-COVID-19 immunity, most centers have empirically reduced anti-rejection immunosuppression in KTRs with COVID-19 from the onset of the pandemic,” Zeguo Sun, from the department of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and colleagues wrote. Read the full story in Healio.

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Study provides insights into how the immune system of kidney transplant recipients responds to COVID-19

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Kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) have experienced severe symptoms and poor outcomes with COVID-19. Because the long-term antirejection immunosuppressive drugs that KTRs take could inhibit the development of protective anti-COVID-19 immunity, most hospitals have reduced the drugs’ doses in KTRs with COVID-19. Surprisingly, reported rates of acute rejection have been low despite reduced immunosuppression in these patients. A new study in JASN provides a potential explanation.

To study KTRs’ immune responses in the face of COVID-19, a team lead by Madhav C. Menon, MBBS, MD (Yale University School of Medicine and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai) analyzed the blood of 64 KTRs with COVID-19, including 31 acute cases (< 4 weeks from diagnosis) and 33 post-acute cases (>4 weeks). Patients were enrolled form Mount Sinai and Montefiore hospital (Albert Einstein College of Medicine)—two hospitals at the forefront of the pandemic in its early months. Read the full story in Medical Xpress.

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Myocarditis risk ‘significantly higher’ with COVID-19 vs. vaccination

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Data from a large cohort in England suggest that risk for myocarditis, while small overall, is significantly higher after SARS-CoV-2 infection in unvaccinated individuals vs. after COVID-19 vaccination, researchers reported.

In an analysis of more than 42 million vaccinated children and adults, researchers also found that although the risk for myocarditis with SARS-CoV-2 infection remained after vaccination, it was “substantially reduced,” suggesting vaccination provides some protection from the CV consequences of SARS-CoV-2. Read the full story in Healio.

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Vaccination in patients with kidney failure: lessons from COVID-19

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Infection is the second leading cause of death in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Adequate humoral (antibody) and cellular (T cell-driven) immunity are required to minimize pathogen entry and promote pathogen clearance to enable infection control. Vaccination can generate cellular and humoral immunity against specific pathogens and is used to prevent many life-threatening infectious diseases. Read more in Nature Reviews Nephrology.

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Drop Seen in Transplantation in 2020 With COVID-19 Pandemic

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MONDAY, Aug. 22, 2022 (HealthDay News) — The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a decrease in transplantation in 2020, according to a study published in the July 1 issue of the American Journal of Surgery.

Alejandro Suarez-Pierre, M.D., from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora, and colleagues examined adult transplantation data as time series data in a population-based cohort study. Read more in Physician’s Weekly.

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Myocarditis a Common Long COVID Condition in Kids

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— ICU care during infection, young age, complex chronic conditions all linked with PASC

The burden of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), or long COVID, appeared to be low among children, but myocarditis was the most commonly diagnosed PASC-associated condition, according to a large retrospective cohort study.

Among over 650,000 individuals under the age of 21 who underwent antigen or RT-PCR testing, the incidence of at least one systemic, syndromic, or medication feature of PASC was 41.9% for positive children compared with 38.2% for negative children 28 to 179 days after initial testing, reported Suchitra Rao, MBBS, MSCS, of the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, and colleagues.
Read more in MedPage Today.

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Post-COVID Neurologic, Psychiatric Symptoms May Persist for 2 Years

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— Risk profiles, trajectories vary for children and adults

Up to 2 years after infection, people who had COVID-19 continued to face increased risks of neurologic and psychiatric sequelae compared with people who had other respiratory infections, a retrospective study showed.

Health records of nearly 1.3 million people — mostly in the U.S. — showed that risks of cognitive deficit (brain fog), dementia, psychotic disorders, and epilepsy or seizures were increased at 2 years for adults who had COVID, reported Paul Harrison, FRCPsych, of the University of Oxford in England, and colleagues. Read more in MedPage Today.

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Patients With Liver Disease and COVID Report Extra Hardships

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— Detrimental effects included delayed care, curtailed social life

The COVID-19 pandemic substantially impacted the daily lives of patients with chronic liver disease, a global cross-sectional study found.

Among 2,500 chronic liver disease patients, 11.3% reported that the pandemic had negatively impacted their disease, which was mostly due to delays in follow-up care (73%), reported Zobair Younossi, MD, MPH, of Inova Medicine in Falls Church, Virginia, and colleagues, writing in Hepatology Communications. Read more in MedPage Today.

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One year after double-lung transplant, man to ride 38 miles for fundraiser

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Just over a year after receiving a double-lung transplant, a COVID-19 survivor is cycling 38-miles to raise funds for the nonprofit where he found support after his surgery. 

Rick Bressler, Lock Haven, contracted the COVID-19 virus in March 2021, four days before he was scheduled to receive the vaccine. He was soon hospitalized and placed on a ventilator. Read the full story in NorthcentralPA.com.

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