INTRODUCTION: Relapsing COVID-19 infections have been reported, but their etiology and severity are still unknown. In addition, there have been no cases in the literature that associate relapsing infection with immunosuppression, either from a disease course or medications. CASE PRESENTATION: This case series illustrates two patients who developed a relapsed infection, likely from recent rituximab infusions. In addition, both cases depicted a severe form of infection than the initial one. Laboratory investigations revealed these patients were unable to produce COVID-19 antibodies, even though one of the patients received convalescent plasma. CONCLUSION: Clinicians should be aware of the possibility of relapsing COVID-19, especially in immunosuppressed patients. Because rituximab induces B-cell depletion, it can also decrease the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine. Therefore, these patients should receive the vaccine before their scheduled rituximab infusion.
INTRODUCTION: Relapsing COVID-19 infections have been reported, but their etiology and severity are still unknown. In addition, there have been no cases in the literature that associate relapsing infection with immunosuppression, either from a disease course or medications. CASE PRESENTATION: This case series illustrates two patients who developed a relapsed infection, likely from recent rituximab infusions. In addition, both cases depicted a severe form of infection than the initial one. Laboratory investigations revealed these patients were unable to produce COVID-19 antibodies, even though one of the patients received convalescent plasma. CONCLUSION: Clinicians should be aware of the possibility of relapsing COVID-19, especially in immunosuppressed patients. Because rituximab induces B-cell depletion, it can also decrease the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine. Therefore, these patients should receive the vaccine before their scheduled rituximab infusion.
Authors: Wilfredo F Garcia-Beltran; Evan C Lam; Michael G Astudillo; Diane Yang; Tyler E Miller; Jared Feldman; Blake M Hauser; Timothy M Caradonna; Kiera L Clayton; Adam D Nitido; Mandakolathur R Murali; Galit Alter; Richelle C Charles; Anand Dighe; John A Branda; Jochen K Lennerz; Daniel Lingwood; Aaron G Schmidt; A John Iafrate; Alejandro B Balazs Journal: Cell Date: 2020-12-15 Impact factor: 41.582
Authors: Jennifer M Dan; Jose Mateus; Yu Kato; Kathryn M Hastie; Esther Dawen Yu; Caterina E Faliti; Alba Grifoni; Sydney I Ramirez; Sonya Haupt; April Frazier; Catherine Nakao; Vamseedhar Rayaprolu; Stephen A Rawlings; Bjoern Peters; Florian Krammer; Viviana Simon; Erica Ollmann Saphire; Davey M Smith; Daniela Weiskopf; Alessandro Sette; Shane Crotty Journal: Science Date: 2021-01-06 Impact factor: 47.728
Authors: Michele L Donato; Steven Park; Melissa Baker; Robert Korngold; Alison Morawski; Xue Geng; Ming Tan; Andrew Ip; Stuart Goldberg; Scott Rowley; Kar Chow; Emily Brown; Joshua Zenreich; Phyllis McKiernan; Kathryn Buttner; Anna Ullrich; Laura Long; Rena Feinman; Andrea Ricourt; Marlo Kemp; Mariefel Vendivil; Hyung Suh; Bindu Balani; Cristina Cicogna; Rani Sebti; Abdulla Al-Khan; Steven Sperber; Samit Desai; Stacey Fanning; Danit Arad; Ronaldo Go; Elizabeth Tam; Keith Rose; Sean Sadikot; David Siegel; Martin Gutierrez; Tatyana Feldman; Andre Goy; Andrew Pecora; Noa Biran; Lori Leslie; Alfred Gillio; Sarah Timmapuri; Michele Boonstra; Sam Singer; Sukhdeep Kaur; Ernest Richards; David S Perlin Journal: JCI Insight Date: 2021-03-22
Authors: Sara Tomassini; Deevia Kotecha; Paul W Bird; Andrew Folwell; Simon Biju; Julian W Tang Journal: J Infect Date: 2020-08-12 Impact factor: 6.072