SARS-CoV-2 related pneumonia in an adult with cystic fibrosis: natural favourable clinical course or effective therapy?

Abstract

We report the case of a man affected by cystic fibrosis who developed a severe SARS-CoV-2 related pneumonia in March 2020. In addition to lopinavir/ritonavir and hydroxychloroquine, he was treated with two doses of tocilizumab, displaying a significant clinical improvement. This is the first case described in the literature of an adult patient affected by cystic fibrosis who received tocilizumab for COVID-19, with documented total recovery, also assessed by a spirometry. was first described in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and was declared pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11th, 2020. The clinical spectrum varies widely, from asymptomatic infection or mild influenza-like disease to potentially fatal pneumonia with respiratory failure. Hypertension, diabetes and coronary heart disease have already been described as common comorbidities and are linked, with various degrees of importance, with a worse evolution and outcome of the infection, both in preliminary papers and in most recent evaluations. With respect to respiratory tract pathological conditions, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and active smoking have been reported as factors linked to more severe outcomes [1]. Spread of Covid-19 among patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) might have a severe impact on their clinical conditions. To date, few data are available on the association of these two diseases.