Treating COVID-19: Review of drug hypersensitivity reactions.

Dordal Culla, M T; Herrera-Lasso Regás, V; Martí-Garrido, J; Rodríguez Cumplido, D; Vázquez-Revuelta, P; Lleonart Bellfill, R

The disease caused by the new Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), has expanded as a global pandemic since its beginning in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Its severe clinical manifestations associated with the need for admission into Intensive Care Units and high mortality rate represent a therapeutic challenge for the medical community. Currently, there is no drug approved for its treatment and different therapeutic options are being essayed to address pathophysiological processes underlying the clinical manifestations experienced by patients. New and old drugs, whether as a single treatment or in combination, in immunologically compromised patients may favour the development of adverse drug reactions (ADR), including drug hypersensitivity, which must be identified and managed accordingly. Given the lack of community immunity and the high rate of virus contagion, it is expected that new cases will emerge in the upcoming months. Thus, the probability of more adverse reactions or even new clinical manifestations may increase in the near future. Allergists must be updated on these treatments as well as on the management of possible drug hypersensitivity reactions (DHR).