Porphyria during pandemic in Argentina

CABALLERO, ALEJANDRA; VARELA, LAURA; TOMASSI, LUCÍA; GOÑI, VERONICA; WINITZKY, PABLO; MURAMATSU, HECTOR; PARERA, VICTORIA; MELITO, VIVIANA; GUOLO, MARCELO; NORIEGA, GUILLERMO; BUZALEH, ANA MARIA

Sofia

Congreso; PORPHYRINS AND PORPHYRIAS 2022 (ICPP 2022); 2022

ICPP

BackgroundIn early 2020 when pandemic started, some reports indicated that SARS-CoV-2 attacked β-hemoglobin chain releasing heme that cleaves to protoporphyrin IX and Fe, favoring virus infectivity by interaction with porphyrin. Porphyric patients usually have high content of porphyrins. The aim was to analyze how COVID-19 could affect manifestation and evolution of both pathologies in comorbidity. Porphyria incidence in patients diagnosed in CIPYP was studied during pandemic phases comparing it with last ten years. All patients signed the Inform Consent.ResultsPandemic affected diagnosis during 2020, only 6 cases were registered: 4 Porphyria Cutanea Tarda (PCT), 1 Erythropoietic Protoporphyria (EPP), 1 Congenital Erythropoietic Porphyria. During 2021 we diagnosed: 35 PCT, 8 Acute Intermittent Porphyria (AIP), 3 Variegate Porphyria (VP) and 2 EPP. A last 10 years survey showed that AIP cases in 2021 were around median value (4.5±2.2) while PCT were significantly below (64±9.6). Until 20/5/2022, SARS-CoV-2 infected 111 patients: 58 AIP, 29 PCT, 14 VP, 8 EPP and 2 Hereditary Coproporphyria. 5 AIP and 2 PCT were hospitalized; among AIP, 1 needed ventilation, 2 has an attack during hospital care and 1 suffered a crisis 2 months after COVID-19 positive. For AIP, where most COVID-19 cases were reported, biochemical data showed no significant differences pre and post SARS-Cov-2 infection even in individuals with bilateral pneumonia or respiratory deficiencies.ConclusionCOVID-19 does not have a different expression in porphyrics than in general population. We observed no worsening due to Porphyria and no different Porphyria manifestation during infection even in latent AIP/VP. Considering that COVID-19 is a systemic pathology with different levels of severity including long COVID and post COVID stress, a long-term medical control post-COVID in Porphyria is especially relevant to Acute Porphyrias where stress plays a key role.