Uneventful case of COVID-19 in a kidney transplant recipient

BMJ Case Rep. 2020 Jul 20;13(7):e237427. doi: 10.1136/bcr-2020-237427.

Abstract

Kidney transplant recipients have been reported at a particularly high risk of severe COVID-19 illness due to chronic immunosuppression and coexisting conditions. Yet, here we describe a remarkably mild case of COVID-19 in a 62-year-old female who had a kidney transplantation 10 years earlier due to autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. The patient was admitted for 1 day; immunosuppressive therapy with tacrolimus and low-dose prednisolone was continued; and the patient recovered successfully without the use of antiviral agents or oxygen therapy. The case demonstrates that kidney transplant recipients are not necessarily severely affected by COVID-19. Withdrawal of immunosuppressive therapy could be associated with poorer outcomes and should not be implemented thoughtlessly.

Keywords: infectious diseases; pharmacology and therapeutics; renal medicine; renal transplantation.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Betacoronavirus / isolation & purification
  • COVID-19
  • Coronavirus Infections / diagnosis*
  • Coronavirus Infections / drug therapy
  • Coronavirus Infections / virology
  • Female
  • Glucocorticoids / therapeutic use
  • Hospitalization
  • Humans
  • Immunosuppression Therapy / adverse effects*
  • Immunosuppressive Agents / therapeutic use
  • Kidney Transplantation / adverse effects*
  • Middle Aged
  • Pandemics
  • Pneumonia, Viral / diagnosis*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / drug therapy
  • Pneumonia, Viral / virology
  • Prednisolone / therapeutic use
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Tacrolimus / therapeutic use
  • Transplant Recipients / statistics & numerical data*
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Glucocorticoids
  • Immunosuppressive Agents
  • Prednisolone
  • Tacrolimus