A CASE OF PERSISTENT COVID-19 INFECTION IN AN IMMUNOSUPPRESSED PATIENT

ABSTRACT

SESSION TITLE COVID-19 Case Report Posters 3 SESSION TYPE Case Report Posters PRESENTED ON 10/19/2022 1245 pm - 0145 pm INTRODUCTION: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic quickly spread throughout the world after it was first identified in Wuhan, China in 2019. Severe cases of hypoxic respiratory failure have since filled hospitals over the past few years. We present a case of an immunosuppressed patient with persistent respiratory failure from SARS-CoV-2, with a failure to mount antibody response, treated with convalescent plasma. CASE PRESENTATION We present a 54-year-old female with a past medical history significant for rheumatoid arthritis on immunosuppression with methotrexate, prednisone, sulfasalazine, and rituximab who presented with diarrhea, cough, and shortness of breath. She was unvaccinated and tested positive for COVID-19 pneumonia, which was treated with corticosteroids and Remdesevir. CT thorax revealed diffuse infiltrates (Figure-1). She had progressive hypoxia requiring ICU stay and her course was complicated by inferior wall STEMI, requiring Intra-aortic balloon pump and intubation given worsening hypoxia. She had progressive improvement and was discharged from the hospital on 4 L of supplemental oxygen after a 30-day hospital stay. She presented two days after discharge with cough, fevers and increasing oxygen requirements up to 100% high flow nasal cannula. She was septic and was treated with steroids and antibiotics. She was febrile despite broad spectrum antibiotics. CT thorax demonstrated diffuse infiltrates worsened from the previous and steroid dosing was increased (Figure-2). No obvious source of infection was found, and further evaluation revealed positive Covid-19 RT-PCR. Despite her initial infection occurring two months prior, COVID-19 anti-spike and anti-nucleocapsid antibodies were negative. She was treated with two doses of convalescent plasma and had improvement in her oxygenation, going from 80% high-flow nasal cannula to 6L of supplemental oxygen within two days of administration. DISCUSSION: It's unclear whether immunosuppressed patients with rheumatologic disease are at an increased risk of severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, the use of immunosuppressants places patients at risk of an improper immune response to infection. In immunocompetent patients, the typical time to negative SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR is 3 weeks after positivity (1), and most patients develop antibodies within 2-3 weeks after viral exposure (2). Anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies like rituximab, commonly used for rheumatologic diseases, can hinder humoral immunity, and impair vaccine response (3). Given our patient's immunosuppressive regimen, we suspect she failed to mount an immune response to COVID-19, resulting in 56 days of infection without an adequate antibody response, successfully treated with convalescent plasma. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with significant immunosuppression regimens may fail to produce antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2, resulting in prolonged infection. Reference #1 Rodríguez-Grande, C., Adán-Jiménez, J., Catalán, P., Alcalá, L., Estévez, A., Muñoz, P., Pérez-Lago, L., de Viedma, D. G., Adán-Jiménez, J., Alcalá, L., Aldámiz, T., Alonso, R., Álvarez, B., Álvarez-Uría, A., Arias, A., Arroyo, L. A., Berenguer, J., Bermúdez, E., Bouza, E., … de la Villa, S. (2021). Inference of active viral replication in cases with sustained positive reverse transcription-PCR results for SARS-CoV-2. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 59(2). https//doi.org/10.1128/JCM.02277-20 Reference #2 Boechat, J. L., Chora, I., Morais, A., & Delgado, L. (2021). The immune response to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 immunopathology – Current perspectives. In Pulmonology (Vol. 27, Issue 5). https//doi.org/10.1016/j.pulmoe.2021.03.008 Reference #3 Eisenberg, R. A., Jawad, A. F., Boyer, J., Maurer, K., McDonald, K., Prak, E. T. L., & Sullivan, K. E. (2013). Rituximab-treated patients have a poor response to influenza vaccination. Journal of Clinical Immunology, 33(2). https//doi.org/10.1007/s10875-012-9813-x DISCLOSURES No relevant relationships by Issa Makki No relevant relationships by John Parent No relevant relationships by Jay Patel No relevant relationships by Ruchira Sengupta