Autopsies Revealed Pathological Features of COVID-19 in Unvaccinated vs. Vaccinated Patients.
Biomedicines
; 11(2)2023 Feb 14.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2239892
ABSTRACT
Background:
In Italy, by the end of 2021, a new pandemic wave led to increased hospitalizations and death, even in some vaccinated people. We aimed to investigate the death of COVID-19-vaccinated patients who acquired infection and developed severe disease, and to assess differences with fatal COVID-19 in unvaccinated subjects by studying the pathological events triggered by SARS-CoV-2.Methods:
Detailed autoptic examination was performed on five fully vaccinated compared to five unvaccinated patients. Histopathological analysis focused on the lung and heart, the two major affected organs.Results:
COVID-19 caused, or contributed to death, in all the unvaccinated cases. By contrast, in vaccinated group, pre-existing pathologies played a major role, and death was not COVID-19-related in four out of five patients. These patients did not show the histological features of SARS-CoV-2 lung damage. Diffuse inflammatory macrophages infiltration recently emerged as the main feature of COVID-19 cardiac injury. Interestingly, the most striking difference between the two groups was the absence of increased macrophage infiltration in the heart of vaccinated patients.Conclusions:
Results of this study confirm the efficacy of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in protecting organs from injury and support the need to maintain an adequate immune response by booster dose administration.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Vaccines
Language:
English
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Biomedicines11020551
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