Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can have a severe course in immunocompromised hosts and patients with hematological malignancies. In some cases, the bad prognosis is associated with the lack of B lymphocytes, with impaired antibody production and inefficient viral clearance. We report a case of a 67-year-old woman with a story of non-Hodgkin lymphoma treated with R-CHOP (rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone), who got a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection while being totally depleted of B cells. This condition has determined a severe and prolonged course of COVID-19, with persistently positive nasopharyngeal molecular swabs and lack of anti-SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies. The clinical recovery was favored by the administration of convalescent hyperimmune plasma.
Keywords: Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies; COVID-19; Convalescent plasma; Rituximab; SARS-CoV-2 swab.
Copyright 2022, Colombo et al.