Pediatric allogeneic stem cell transplantation from adult SARS-COV-2 positive donor

ABSTRACT

Background Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) is the cause of COVID-19 but almost 50% of infected people with the virus are asymptomatic (Sakurai et al., 2020 Aug 27) [1]. After the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine, as per early reports from observational studies, there is a significant reduction in symptomatic infection among vaccinated individuals (Thompson et al., 2021 Apr 2) [2]. The possibility of viral transmission through blood products is unconfirmed yet (Sakurai et al., 2020 Aug 27) [1]. Case report We report a successful stem cell transplant case in a patient with Sickle cell anemia from an asymptomatic COVID-19-positive donor who underwent stem cell collection under general anesthesia. No complications were encountered during and after the procedure. The marrow was infused safely with good immune reconstitution in the recipient. Conclusion This report revealed that an asymptomatic PCR-positive person might be an acceptable HSCT donor due to existing milder variants of COVID-19.