CASE REPORT   Free access

Minerva Respiratory Medicine 2021 June;60(2):59-61

DOI: 10.23736/S2784-8477.21.01914-3

Copyright © 2021 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

COVID-19 induced immunosuppression leading to secondary infection in a non-HIV patient

Tran T. NINH ¹, Vinh DONG ², Le Q. LOC ³, Tiffany TSAO ², Akshay RAUT ⁴, Sedighe KARIMZADEH ⁵, Le H. MINH ³, Le H. NHI ⁶, Tuyet T. DAO ¹, Nguyen T. ANH ¹, Frank O’NEIL ^{2, 7}, Pham N. THACH ¹, Nguyen TIEN HUY ⁸ ✉

¹ Vietnam National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam; ² American University of the Caribbean, Cupe Coy, Saint Maarten, the Netherlands; ³ Faculty of Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; ⁴ R.C.S.M. Government Medical College, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India; ⁵ School of Medicine, Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences, Sabzevar, Iran; ⁶ Department of Radiology, Vinmec International Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; ⁷ Nassau University Medical Center, East Meadow, New York, NY, USA; ⁸ School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan

Lymphopenia and immune dysfunction in COVID-19 is increasingly recognized and studied. This case report details a secondary infection following lymphopenia with CD4+ count drop in a COVID-19 patient with no history of immunosuppression or infection with HIV. The mechanism of lymphopenia, both CD4+ and CD8+ T cell count drops, in COVID-19 needs further study.

KEY WORDS: COVID-19; Immunosuppression; Lymphopenia; Coinfection; HIV