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Review
. 2024 Feb 22:12:1327093.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1327093. eCollection 2024.

A review of the clinical characteristics and management of immunosuppressed patients living with HIV or solid organ transplants infected with SARS-CoV-2 omicron variants

Yan Song  1 , Lixin Lou  1 , Kaiyu Zhang  1   2
Affiliations
Review

A review of the clinical characteristics and management of immunosuppressed patients living with HIV or solid organ transplants infected with SARS-CoV-2 omicron variants

Yan Song et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) omicron strain was first detected in South Africa in November 2021. Although clinical responses to SARS-CoV-2 depend on host immunity, it remains uncertain how immunosuppression affects subsequent coronavirus disease 2019-related (COVID-19-related) incidence, severity, and mortality, especially with respect to the omicron strain. Conversely, immunosuppressants are often thought to predispose to infection. To explore the associations between host immunity and infection with SARS-CoV-2 omicron variants, here we discuss two groups of immunosuppressed patients: organ transplant recipients, who generally receive exogenous immunosuppressants, and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-infected patients, who often have disease-related immunosuppression. In summarizing the clinical features and prognoses of HIV-infected patients and human organ transplant recipients infected with SARS-CoV-2 omicron variants, we provide new insights into the pathogenesis of omicron SARS-CoV-2 and provide a framework for the management of these patients now and in the future.

Keywords: HIV; SARS-CoV-2 infection; immunosuppression; inflammation; omicron; organ transplant.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was funded by Jilin Provincial Department of Science and Technology (20200201616JC) to KZ, and Jilin Province Health Science and Technology Capacity Improvement Project (2021JC001) to KZ.