Cytomegalovirus Reactivation in Critically-ill COVID-19 Patients

OpenAlex İngilizce

To the Editor, COVID-19 is an ongoing global pandemic that causes significant morbidity and mortality. Although severe pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are seen in the foreground, it causes widespread diseases, involving multiple organ systems in severe cases. Various immunosuppressive agents, such as corticosteroids and interleukin antagonists, are used in the treatment of COVID-19. Thus, immune paralysis due to severe COVID-19, sepsis, and drugs used for its treatment cause secondary bacterial/ fungal infections and viral reactivation. 1 Cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation occurs in 30% of immunocompetent patients with ARDS and is associated with increased mortality. CMV reactivation is important because it causes prolonged invasive mechanical ventilation, increases the incidence of secondary infections, prolongs intensive care unit (ICU) stay, and increases the mortality rate. 2 However, there is a paucity of data on CMV infections in criticallyill patients with COVID-19. Therefore, we retrospectively evaluated the outcomes and clinical characteristics of CMV reactivation cases in our COVID-19 patients.