PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Zheng Xian Thng
AU  - Marc D De Smet
AU  - Cecilia S Lee
AU  - Vishali Gupta
AU  - Justine R Smith
AU  - Peter J McCluskey
AU  - Jennifer E Thorne
AU  - John H Kempen
AU  - Manfred Zierhut
AU  - Quan Dong Nguyen
AU  - Carlos Pavesio
AU  - Rupesh Agrawal
TI  - COVID-19 and immunosuppression: a review of current clinical experiences and implications for ophthalmology patients taking immunosuppressive drugs
AID  - 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2020-316586
DP  - 2021 Mar 01
TA  - British Journal of Ophthalmology
PG  - 306--310
VI  - 105
IP  - 3
4099  - http://bjo.bmj.com/content/105/3/306.short
4100  - http://bjo.bmj.com/content/105/3/306.full
SO  - Br J Ophthalmol2021 Mar 01; 105
AB  - The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in December 2019 in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China. This is the third and largest coronavirus outbreak since the new millennium after SARS in 2002 and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2012. Over 3 million people have been infected and the COVID-19 has caused more than 217 000 deaths. A concern exists regarding the vulnerability of patients who have been treated with immunosuppressive drugs prior or during this pandemic. Would they be more susceptible to infection by the SARS-CoV-2 and how would their clinical course be altered by their immunosuppressed state? This is a question the wider medical fraternity—including ophthalmologists, rheumatologists, gastroenterologist and transplant physicians among others—must answer. The evidence from the SARS and MERS outbreak offer some degree of confidence that immunosuppression is largely safe in the current COVID-19 pandemic. Preliminary clinical experiences based on case reports, small series and observational studies show the morbidity and mortality rates in immunosuppressed patients may not differ largely from the general population. Overwhelmingly, current best practice guidelines worldwide recommended the continuation of immunosuppression treatment in patients who require them except for perhaps high-dose corticosteroid therapy and in patients with associated risk factors for severe COVID-19 disease.