Asthma Allergy Immunology

Asthma Allergy Immunology

2020, Vol 18, Num, 4     (Pages: 023-026)

SARS-CoV-2 in a Patient with Persistent Asthma Taking Omalizumab: The First Case in Turkey

Emel ATAYIK 1, Gökhan AYTEKİN 1,

1 Depatment of Adult Allergy and Immunology, Konya City Hospital, Konya, Turkey

DOI: 10.21911/aai.574
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Since the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first reported in Wuhan, China, it has been one of the largest pandemics in the history which has been aggressively spreading all over the world and affected more than 6 percent of world`s population. In SARS-CoV-2 pandemics, patients with severe asthma require particular attention due to not only the underlying airway disease, but also immunomodulatory treatments used. Although it is known that viruses infecting the respiratory mucosa are risk factors for asthma attacks and that viral infections at early stage of the life are risk factors for development of asthma, and patients with a chronic disease have been declared as the risk group for severe SARS-CoV-2 infection by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), some studies reported that ratio of patients with asthma is relatively lower among the patients hospitalized for SARSCoV- 2. This suggests that treatments used for asthma may be protective against SARS-CoV-2. In addition, our knowledge regarding effect of omalizumab on mortality and morbidity in patients with asthma using omalizumab in SARS-CoV-2 infection is limited. In this case report, through reporting this first case of accompanying SARS-CoV-2 case in a patient with severe persistent asthma using omalizumab from Turkey, we aimed to discuss potential effects of omalizumab treatment on accompanying SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia in these patients.

Keywords : SARS-CoV-2, omalizumab, severe asthma