Active tuberculosis, sequelae and COVID-19 co-infection: first cohort of 49 cases

Abstract

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) disease (COVID-19) pandemic has attracted interest because of its global rapid spread, clinical severity, high mortality rate and capacity to overwhelm healthcare systems [1, 2]. SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs mainly through droplets, although surface contamination contributes and debate continues on aerosol transmission [3–5]. Diagnostic, treatment and outcome details of 49 COVID-19 patients with concurrent or previous tuberculosis from 8 countries show varied clinical profiles <https://bit.ly/369ZGGu> The article is part of the scientific activities of the Global Tuberculosis Network (GTN); GREPI (Groupe de Recherche et d'Enseignement en Pneumo-Infectiologie), a working group from SPLF (Société de Pneumologie de Langue Française); SEPAR (Sociedad Española de Neumología and Cirugía Torácica); Moscow Society of Phtisiology and of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, Tradate, ITA-80, 2017-2020- GBM/RC/LDA). Delia Goletti is a professor of Pathology at Unicamillus University in Rome, Italy. The authors wish to thank Enrico Girardi (National Institute for Infectious Diseases, L. Spallanzani, IRCCS, Rome, Italy) for the useful comments on the manuscript.