Infection News

PHILADELPHIA — COVID-19 infections in patients who receive tixagevimab/cilgavimab are “infrequent,” and “mild in severity,” according to early data presented at ACR Convergence 2022.

I am very happy to see us featuring long COVID again after our initial foray in Healio Rheumatology in February. Joining me in this discussion are several astute colleagues including Aranka Ballering, MSc, Andrew J. Laster, MD, and Jeffrey A. Sparks, MD, MMSc, who provide insightful comments and have raised many of the unanswered questions surrounding this disorder.

The FDA has issued an emergency use authorization for anakinra injection in the treatment of COVID-19 among hospitalized adults with pneumonia requiring supplemental oxygen.

The incidence of omicron breakthrough cases of COVID-19 in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases on immunosuppressants is high, but similar to controls, while disease severity is mild, according to data.

Approximately 15% of U.S. adults with a prior positive COVID-19 test report symptoms of long COIVD, according to data published in JAMA Network Open.

SAN DIEGO — The SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to evolve, sometimes on a daily basis, thus making consensus difficult to achieve in terms of how to continue fighting against COVID-19 and its ever-increasing sequelae, said a speaker here.

Although the emergency use authorizations for antiviral medications to treat COVID-19 have proven to be crucial in helping patients at high risk for severe disease, a potential wrinkle threatens to undo that progress.

In patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving rituximab, a positive humoral response following COVID-19 vaccination persists regardless of continued rituximab infusion, according to data published in Rheumatology.

Approximately 48% patients who develop symptomatic COVID-19 either fail to recover or achieve only partial recovery within 6 to 18 months after infection, according to data published in Nature Communications.

Patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases who developed COVID-19 during the first omicron wave were 71% less likely to experience severe outcomes than those who caught it in the first 4 months of the pandemic, according to data.