Coronavirus (Covid-19) and Immunosuppressive medication (Imuran)

Hi everybody, so due to the current Coranavirus outbreak and the fact that I take 200mg of Imuran (azathioprine) daily. I’m curious to know and I’m sure others are, how at risk are we?

Do we even stand a chance fighting this having our immune system suppressed?

I read that pneumonia can happen and extreme inflammation, but being on immunosuppressive meds, would this maybe even prevent excessive inflammation from happening?

I know not many on here are docs and I will ask mine as soon as possible, just curious in case anybody else has already asked?

Thanks.

Agree with CCinPA. If you're in the USA the chance of getting corona virus is almost zero.

The usual things you should do for limiting any respiratory illness apply - hand washing and avoiding sick people.

Can't answer your questions but you could get flu and pneumonia vaccinations (if not already done) to reduce the risk of opportunistic secondary infections.
Most likely you have a better immune response than a transplant patient but less than someone not on imuran. If you're younger you also have a better chance...
I am i europe too, keeping an eye on the situation in Italy...

Yes it's a different pneumonia, but if we have one infection it can lower our resistance to other infections and its often the secondary infection that leads to a fatality.

Not sure hand sanitizers will do jacksh** when it's a viral infection and they kill bacteria...

I think there is a lot of undue fear. There's no confirmed cases of Coronavirus (Covid-19) within my state, as is the case in most if not all of the USA and other countries. If there's no cases, then my odds of getting it are zero.

It's like bird flu, SARS, and other media scares of the past. Better odds of death from the common cold, flu, or pneumonia than anything else for us. Not trying to make it seem like throw all caution to the wind, but trying to state that many other things are higher risk yet we do not worry about those things.

Yeah I’m actually currently in the canary islands where cases are rising due to the tourism over here, 4 Italians infected.

I see many people comparing this to the flu and I get it, but isn’t this worse when you do catch it compared to the flu? In a sense that they don't know how to fight it properly yet?

I have to fly in a couple weeks and I’m on the edge of paranoia for sure...

Cant help but feeling like my body would not be able to fight this kind of thing being on these meds, specifically Azathioprine (I’m 32 by the way).

If I had to fly right now I think I would wear a mask. When I was super sick a couple years ago I wore a mask when I had to go to stores and doc's office when there was a huge flu epidemic in the town I live in. I was already so weak there was no way I could have dealt with the flu. Don't know if it was the mask but I managed to avoid getting the flu.

This virus is worse in that it's new so our bodies have no history with it and has a difficult time fighting it. From what I've read the symptoms seem the same as the flu. I just looked at the numbers and far more people recover than die.

Be careful, but try not to live in fear.

0.00005 percent then.

Someone skipped exponential functions in math class

I don't think you can look at the percentage of people within a population as the odds of getting sick - the outbreaks in Italy and south korea show how fast the virus spreads when quarantine measures are not in place. We've already had warnings at work about travel to northern italy (we're allowed but have to notify the administration, not sure what happens then). For me I'm not even too worried about being immunocompromised as with xeljanz it works so fast you can stop it for a week then restart. But I do think this virus is probably unstoppable. The mortality rate may be comparable with flu, the difference being you can protect yourself against flu with a vaccination....
ETA - just been checking the news this morning. New cases in France Germany Switzerland Austria and Brazil, all associated with people who recently travelled to northern Italy...I'm not posting this for the hype but simply to notice...this is how epidemiology works..europe is densely populated and people travel a lot.... unless the US closes its borders completely it's hard to imagine it staying disease free.

Post Edited (poopydoop) : 2/26/2020 1:06:18 AM (GMT-7)

It's a frightening time in many countries and frankly annoying when people compare it to flu because we all have the choice to have the flu jab but there is no jab for this. Also upsetting when it's constantly said on the media, it's only the old and those with pre-existing health conditions who have to worry, as if we don't matter.

I too have wondered if immune suppresants might help in some way because, from what I have read, it is the "cytokine storm" that appears in the later part of the illness that can lead the virus to be fatal. I also think of people I know who have been given steroids in the past for severe pneumonia, alongside antibiotics, which leads you to think immune suppressants might not be all bad. However, I doubt that anyone can tell us and we just have to keep a close eye on research and look after ourselves as best we can.

I agree the media can raise the fear, I was so unbothered by SARS when it was about that I took the opportunity to take a cheap holiday to Canada but it seems this virus does spread much more easily than SARS, by the oral fecal route as well as airborne.

I live in one of the hotspots (Seattle area) and they have now had the first death in the US here. A student just tested positive that has no ties to any out of country travel so the concern is escalating. Went to the store today and people were buying supplies up. I was so surprised at the reaction. Most stores are out of hand sanitizers and some are out of toilet paper. This will be a ongoing thing, so why the panic short term? Anyway articles said any alcohol based sanitizer kills it as well as a bleach solution of only 1%. Also washing your hands frequently is recommended. So I guess the hand sanitizers are a good idea. The regular hospital type face mask offer no protection you need the n95 but they are hard to wear for very long because they make breathing more difficult. Also get hot. I’m not on immune suppressants but I think it puts you at greater risk. Even having auto immune issues does.