key: cord-0803213-onbh2coa
authors: Strippoli, Davide; Barbagallo, Tania; Prestinari, Francesca; Russo, Giuseppe; Fantini, Fabrizio
title: Biologic agents in psoriasis: our experience during coronavirus infection
date: 2020-06-09
journal: Int J Dermatol
DOI: 10.1111/ijd.15002
sha: fee68bd90c40d135547faf9c782d2732f2007add
doc_id: 803213
cord_uid: onbh2coa

nan

We report here our experience with COVID-19 infection in psoriatic patients treated with biologic agents. One-hundred thirty-nine patients in biologic therapy for chronic plaques psoriasis, followed at our Hospital in Lecco, Northern Italy (the most coronavirus affected area in Italy), were reviewed for evidence of COVID-19 infection. Clinical data, aimed at the detection of SARS-CoV-2 related symptoms, were obtained as follows: 40% of the patients were directly examined in a scheduled visit from March 9th to May 6th; the other patients were interviewed by phone in the period from May 4th to 6th. Clinical history and comorbidities were retrieved from medical records. Five patients, all of whom were in treatment for more than a year, developed symptoms consistent with SARS-CoV-2 infection (Table 1) .

Three patients developed fever and flu-like symptoms, and two developed pneumonia. A nasopharyngeal swab gave a positive result for SARS-CoV-19 in three patients, whilst two patients had no specific diagnostic tests but had symptoms highly suggestive of SARS-CoV-2 infection and reported contact with positive COVID-19 relatives. The mean age was 51.8 years (range 36-72). Hospitalization was necessary for one patient, diagnosed with interstitial pneumonia, receiving therapy with infliximab. In the specific case, the patient was treated with mask oxygen therapy, azithromycin, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir, and enoxaparin. The patient was discharged after 2 weeks. Biologic therapies are engineered to target specific mediators of inflammation, such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin 17, and interleukin 23, therefore they have the potential to impact both on the risk of viral infection and on the risk of more severe disease. 2 The incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in our psoriatic patients 

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