The following is a summary of “A single-center experience of COVID-19 infection in patients with primary immunodeficiency,” published in the May 2024 issue of Allergy & Immunology by Zhou, et al.

Outcomes for patients with primary immunodeficiency (PID) infected by COVID-19 have varied widely due to differences in viral strains, patient populations, health systems, and the availability of vaccinations and specific therapies. Limited data existed on the experience of Australian patients with PID during the pandemic. For a retrospective study, researchers sought to describe the baseline characteristics and short-term outcomes of patients with PID infected with COVID-19 and treated at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, a major tertiary center in Victoria, Australia.

From April 2021 to April 2022, 31 out of 138 patients with PID were infected with COVID-19. Over half of these patients had received three doses of the vaccine (considered fully vaccinated then) and were given COVID-19-specific treatments.

All infected patients experienced mild ambulatory disease with no cases of morbidity or mortality. The PID subtypes observed did not appear to predict worse outcomes independently, which was consistent with current literature.

Protective factors in the cohort included a relatively younger average age and a high uptake of vaccination and COVID-19 therapies.

Reference: jaci-global.org/article/S2772-8293(24)00037-7/fulltext