Impact of COVID-19 on transfusion care of patients with hemoglobin disorders in India

As we navigate the first pandemic of our generation, we've been learning and adapting ourselves to this viral infection and its consequences. It's been more than two years since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and the virus has crippled the healthcare services in almost all the countries of the world. The healthcare systems in various parts of the world are still in the phase of recovery from the effect of the pandemic, as each country is witnessing the emergence of various variants causing multiple waves of infection. As an important part of the health care system, blood banks were one of the affected services. Most of the blood centers in India reported a significant reduction in blood donation during the COVID-19 pandemic. As transfusion services constitute a crucial backbone for the management of transfusion-dependent patients with hemoglobinopathies, the substantial reduction in the timely blood supply drastically affected these patients. All major healthcare centers in India were designated as COVID-19 care centers, which left very few options for these patients to visit for their routine care. Every country managed this acute blood shortages and developed unique strategies to support patients requiring blood transfusion. This manuscript aims to provide a snapshot of the challenges faced by the blood banks and transfusion services in India in the care of patients with hemoglobinopathies, and the mitigation strategies that were adopted.Copyright © Annals of Blood. All rights reserved.

COVID-19 in benign hematology: emerging challenges and special considerations for healthcare professionals.

INTRODUCTION: Many patients with inherited or acquired benign hematological disorders are at increased risk of developing severe complications from COVID-19. These patients, therefore, require specific advice regarding isolation and changes to their usual treatment schedules. Their disease can also be associated with significant burden, and they necessitate life-long and regular access to therapy, and regular follow-up consultations and hospital visits. The current COVID-19 pandemic is therefore presenting many challenges for these patients, their families, and health-care professionals. AREAS COVERED: This review provides an overview of the reported COVID-19 cases in the literature in patients with certain benign hematological disorders including thalassemia, sickle cell disease, hemophilia, immune thrombocytopenia, venous thromboembolism, and aplastic anemia. The review also outlines some recommendations on how to manage these patients if they are infected with SARS-CoV-2. To review the literature on benign hematological disorders and COVID-19, a bibliographic search was performed using PubMed for articles published between January 2020 and June 2020. EXPERT OPINION: International efforts must be made to continue reporting and better understanding the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection in these patients and accordingly develop a set of recommendations to optimize the treatment of future infected patients.

Low morbidity and mortality with COVID-19 in sickle cell disease: A single center experience.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection, which evolved into a global pandemic within a short time. Individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD) suffer from underlying cardiopulmonary comorbidities and are at risk of severe complications such as pneumonia, acute chest syndrome, thrombosis, stroke, and multiorgan failure. Whether COVID-19 poses a high risk of morbidity and mortality in SCD patients remains unclear. Patients with SCD and COVID-19 can present with overlapping clinical features such as respiratory symptoms with ground-glass infiltrates, hyperinflammatory state, and increased risk of thromboembolism. This highlights the need to maintain a low threshold for testing for COVID-19 infection among symptomatic and hospitalized SCD patients. We report a case series of nine hospitalized SCD patients diagnosed with COVID-19 from March 18, 2020 to April 30, 2020 at a tertiary medical center in New York City. The mean age of the study population was 27.9 years, and interval since onset of symptoms and hospital presentation was 1-2 weeks. All patients in our series improved and were discharged home. This limited study shows that SCD patients, who are perceived to be high risk, maybe somehow protected from severe symptoms and complications of COVID-19 infection.