Non‐complicated evolution of <scp>COVID</scp> ‐19 infection in a patient with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis during treatment with adalimumab
Mario Valenti, Paola Facheris, Giulia Pavia, Luigi Gargiulo, Riccardo G. Borroni, Antonio Costanzo, Alessandra Narcisi
Abstract
Non-complicated evolution of COVID-19 infection in a patient with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis during treatment with adalimumab Dear Editor, The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) outbreak, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2), started in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, has been recently declared a pandemic 1 by the World Health Organization (WHO), becoming a major health concern worldwide. The pathogenesis of the disease is still under investigation, but it seems to be strictly related to an uncontrolled immune response that leads to a massive cytokine storm and subsequently to tissue damage. 2 Different immunomodulator treatments have been proposed to contrast this potentially fatal cytokine release syndrome, including (IL)-6 receptor inhibitors (tocilizumab; sarilumab), an IL-1 receptor antagonist (anakinra) and jak-inhibitors, such as baricitinib. Furthermore, another drug class, TNF inhibitors, has been considered for SARS coronavirus infection. 3 since admission, considering the normalization of the values of Ddimer, ferritin, and C-reactive protein, the patient was discharged with 98% oxygen saturation on walking test. Two nasopharyngeal swab tests returned negative at 14 and 21 days after discharge and a follow-up chest CT showed complete resolution of the pulmonary disease. Three weeks after the discharge, adalimumab treatment was resumed without any relapse of COVID-19 related symptoms. In our case, concomitant adalimumab therapy did not lead to any respiratory distress or complicated evolution of COVID-19 infection.