Coronaviruses and immunosuppressed patients. The facts during the third epidemic.

D'Antiga, Lorenzo

Following the outbreak in China, the Lombardy region of Italy has become one of the areas of highest incidence of severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As the outbreak grew to a pandemic, many centres worldwide raised the concern that immunocompromised patients may be at high risk of developing a severe respiratory disease called COVID-19. Unlike common viral agents (such as Adenovirus, Rhinovirus, Norovirus, Influenza, Respiratory Syncytial Virus), Coronaviruses have not shown to cause a more severe disease in immunosuppressed patients. For this family of viruses the host innate immune response appears the main driver of lung tissue damage during infection.