First experience of SARS-CoV-2 infections in solid organ transplant recipients in the Swiss Transplant Cohort Study

Am J Transplant. 2020 Oct;20(10):2876-2882 doi: 10.1111/ajt.16062.
Abstract

Immunocompromised patients may be at increased risk for complications of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. However, comprehensive data of SARS-CoV-2 infection in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients are still lacking. We performed a multicenter nationwide observational study within the Swiss Transplant Cohort Study (STCS) to describe the epidemiology, clinical presentation, treatment and outcomes of the first microbiologically documented SARS-CoV-2 infection among SOT recipients. Overall, 21 patients were included with a median age of 56 years (10 kidney, 5 liver, 1 pancreas, 1 lung, 1 heart and 3 combined transplantations). The most common presenting symptoms were fever (76%), dry cough (57%), nausea (33%), and diarrhea (33%). Ninety-five percent and 24% of patients required hospital and ICU admission, respectively, and 19% were intubated. After a median of 33 days of follow-up, 16 patients were discharged, 3 were still hospitalized and 2 patients died. These data suggest that clinical manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 infection in middle-aged SOT recipients appear to be similar to the general population without an apparent higher rate of complications. These results need to be confirmed in larger cohorts.

Metadata
Publication type: Multicenter Study, Observational Study
Organ: Kidney; Liver; Lung; Heart; Pancreas; Intestine; Simultaneous Kidney/Pancreas; Heart/Lung
Language: French
Country: Switzerland
MeSH terms: Aged; Betacoronavirus; COVID-19; Comorbidity; Coronavirus Infections; Disease Transmission, Infectious; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Incidence; Male; Middle Aged; Organ Transplantation; Pandemics; Pneumonia, Viral; Postoperative Complications; Prospective Studies; SARS-CoV-2; Survival Rate; Switzerland; Transplant Recipients; Liver Transplantation; Kidney Transplantation; Lung Transplantation; Heart Transplantation; Pancreas Transplantation; Heart-Lung Transplantation; Clinical Laboratory Techniques; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; United Kingdom; Covid-19; COVID-19 Diagnostic Testing