SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic and the need for transplant‐oriented trials

Zaza, Gianluigi; Benedetti, Claudia; Fribourg, Miguel; Maggiore, Umberto; Azzi, Jamil; Riella, Leonardo V.; Cravedi, Paolo

After the first reported case of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, the contagion has spread rapidly and has become a global pandemic.1 There are as of yet no published studies beyond the case series describing the incidence and clinical course of COVID-19 in transplant recipients, a population potentially at high risk due to the ongoing immunosuppression and higher risk of comorbidities.2 This pandemic has had a major impact in transplant physicians and healthcare workers as well3 and this crisis has meant reducing or even interrupting transplant program activity, with a subsequent impact on patient morbidity and mortality that is still hard to quantify.