Low prevalence and disease severity of COVID-19 in post-liver transplant recipients-A single centre experience

Liver Int. 2020 Aug;40(8):1972-1976. doi: 10.1111/liv.14552. Epub 2020 Jun 17.

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by a novel coronavirus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is driving a present day global pandemic. Immunosuppressed patients are regarded as a high-risk cohort. The following is a short report on COVID-19 in liver transplant recipients (n = 5) from a high volume UK liver transplant unit with a large follow-up cohort (n = 4500). Based on this limited data, liver transplant recipients appear to have a low incidence of COVID-19, with less severe symptoms than expected, when compared with the general population and other solid organ recipients. This possibly could be related to self-isolation adherence and/or the 'ideal' level of immunosuppression that favourably modulates the immune response to COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; immunosuppression; liver transplant.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Betacoronavirus*
  • COVID-19
  • Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Liver Transplantation*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Pandemics
  • Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology*
  • Prevalence
  • SARS-CoV-2