Preserved SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Cell-Mediated Immunogenicity in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease on Immune-Modulating Therapies.

Immune-modulating medications for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) have been associated with suboptimal vaccine responses. There are conflicting data with SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. We therefore assessed SARS-CoV-2 vaccine immunogenicity at 2 weeks after second mRNA vaccination in 29 patients with IBD compared with 12 normal healthy donors. We observed reduced humoral immunity in patients with IBD on infliximab. However, we observed no difference in humoral and cell-mediated immunity in patients with IBD on infliximab with a thiopurine or vedolizumab compared with normal healthy donors. This is the first study to demonstrate comparable cell-mediated immunity with SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in patients with IBD treated with different immune-modulating medications.

Clinical Experience with COVID-19 at a Specialty Orthopedic Hospital Converted to a Pandemic Overflow Field Hospital.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has sickened millions and killed hundreds of thousands as of June 2020. New York City was affected gravely. Our hospital, a specialty orthopedic hospital unaccustomed to large volumes of patients with life-threatening respiratory infections, underwent rapid adaptation to care for COVID-19 patients in response to emergency surge conditions at neighboring hospitals. PURPOSES: We sought to determine the attributes, pharmacologic and other treatments, and clinical course in the cohort of patients with COVID-19 who were admitted to our hospital at the height of the pandemic in April 2020 in New York City. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective observational cohort study of all patients admitted between April 1 and April 21, 2020, who had a diagnosis of COVID-19. Data were gathered from the electronic health record and by manual chart abstraction. RESULTS: Of the 148 patients admitted with COVID-19 (mean age, 62 years), ten patients died. There were no deaths among non-critically ill patients transferred from other hospitals, while 26% of those with critical illness died. A subset of COVID-19 patients was admitted for orthopedic and medical conditions other than COVID-19, and some of these patients required intensive care and ventilatory support. CONCLUSION: Professional and organizational flexibility during pandemic conditions allowed a specialty orthopedic hospital to provide excellent care in a global public health emergency.