Infection Control News

A phase 2 trial will evaluate if temporarily reducing the immunosuppressive medication of transplant recipients in the days before and after they receive an additional dose of COVID-19 vaccine increases their immune response to the vaccine.

In a letter to the editor of Kidney Medicine Journal, researchers wrote that patients on dialysis without prior COVID-19 infection showed a low antibody response after the COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson.

Dialysis-related infections become less of a risk when dialysis centers consistently improve compliance with standardized hemodialysis care practices, according to findings published in the American Journal of Kidney Disease.

The American Society of Transplant Surgeons, the American Society of Transplantation and the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation recommend organ transplant patients be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The COVID-19 virus can directly infect kidney cells and cause cell injury due to increased fibrosis risk, according to data published in Cell Stem Cell.

On Nov. 26, 2021, the WHO classified a new variant of COVID-19, B.1.1.529, as a “variant of concern” and named it omicron.

Although the COVID-19 antibody and immune responses were delayed in patients on dialysis, their responses were “substantially stronger” to the Moderna vaccine than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Takeda Pharmaceuticals Company Limited announced FDA approval of Livtencity as the first treatment for patients 12 years or older who weigh at least 35 kg and have cytomegalovirus infection after transplant that is refractory to treatment.

When treated with direct-acting antiviral therapy, patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection were at a lower risk for end-stage kidney disease and the composite of ESKD or death, according to a speaker at ASN Kidney week.

Those on dialysis or who have previously received a kidney transplant face a higher risk for COVID-19-related death after infection due to the way the virus amplifies these patients’ already intense immunophenotypic alterations.