ABSTRACT
This is a case report of a patient who developed acute progressive shortness of breath that started two days following the administration of Shingrix and Pneumovax vaccinations. Eight days after the onset of his symptoms he was diagnosed with acute interstitial pneumonitis based on CT scan of the chest which later appeared to be consistent with the diagnosis of antisynthetase syndrome in light of findings consistent with mechanic's hands on examination, elevated Anti-Jo-1 antibody titers and aldolase on laboratory studies.
ABSTRACT
Post-vaccination inflammatory myositis is a rare but known entity in the literature. We encountered a 46-year-old female patient, who presented with complains of fever, arthralgia, and weakness 1 week after taking the second dose of COVID-19 (Oxford-AstraZeneca) vaccine. On workup the patient had raised inflammatory markers, evidence of myositis on magnetic resonance imaging of thighs, and evidence of interstitial lung disease on high-resolution computed tomography of the chest. The patient was further found to be positive for anti-Jo-1 antibody. The initial treatment was glucocorticosteroids and methotrexate initially. The patient briefly developed pneumocystis pneumonia and recovered. The treatment was switched to mycophenolate mofetil with good response. We presented the first case of anti-Jo-1 syndrome reported following COVID-19 vaccination in the literature. Our aim is to sensitise the clinicians to such rare but occasionally life-threatening complications that may arise in the post-vaccination period.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Patients with rheumatic immune diseases were more likely to develop severe or critical COVID-19. We aimed to determine whether rheumatoid factor antibodies were present in COVID patients and the level and type of rheumatoid factor antibodies produced in COVID-19 patients were related to the degree of the patient's condition. The study also aimed to determine the prevalence and characteristics of rheumatoid factor antibodies in patients with COVID-19. METHODS: Sera collected from 129 patients with COVID-19 were tested for rheumatoid factor antibodies by ELISA. Five patients were tracked for several months to monitor dynamic changes of these antibodies. RESULTS: Rheumatoid-associated autoantibodies were detected in 20.16% of patients (26/129) following infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In addition, IgM-RF was primarily present in critically ill patients, while IgA-RF was mainly present in mild patients. Five patients were able to track for several months to monitor dynamic changes of these antibodies. Rheumatoid factor antibodies peaks in the later phase of the disease and last for longer time. Anti-Jo-1 antibody was found in one of the five patients. CONCLUSION: This was the case series report that rheumatoid-associated autoantibodies are present in patients with COVID-19. The clinical significance of these antibodies was not fully understood and needed further characterization. These autoantibodies are related to the severity of the patient's disease and exist for a long time in the patient's body, while their impact on the patient's health is unknown.