Month: February 2022

Should healthy adults receive a Covid vaccine booster shot and why?

FA Manian MD, MPH, , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

A booster shot of Covid vaccine (eg, mRNA, Pfizer or Moderna) is now recommended by the CDC even for healthy adults as follows:1

  • If you received Pfizer vaccine as your primary series, are ≥12 years old and at least 5 months after your 2nd dose
  • If you received Moderna vaccine as your primary series, are ≥18 years old and at least 5 months after your 2nd dose
  • If you received J&J vaccine, are ≥18 years old and at least 2 months after your 1st dose

There are at least 3 reasons for receiving a Covid vaccine booster: 1

  • Waning immunity after primary vaccine series
  • Emergence of Omicron variant which seems to be less responsive to the existing immunity from the vaccine
  • Recent data from clinical trials showing that a booster shot increased the immune response in trial participants who completed an either Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccine primary series 6 months earlier or had J&J vaccine single dose 2 months earlier

Here is the data from CDC on the vaccine effectiveness against Covid based on epidemiologic data on emergency department (ED)/urgent care (UC) encounters or hospitalization during the recent Omicron-predominant period:2

 Vaccine effectiveness against ED/Urgent care encounters 

  • 2 doses of mRNA vaccine: 41% (69% <2 months vs 37% ≥5 months after last dose)
  • 3 doses of mRNA vaccine: 83% (87% < 2 months vs 66% 4 months vs 31% ≥5 months)

Vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization 

  • 2 doses of mRNA vaccine: 55% (71% < 2months vs 54% ≥5 months)
  • 3 doses of mRNA overall 88% (91% if < 2 months, 78% if ≥4 months)

So take full advantage of available Covid vaccines and maximize your chance of not getting Covid!

 

Bonus Pearl: Did you know that a recent CDC study found that people 18 years and older who received the same mRNA vaccine brand for all their vaccinations experienced fewer adverse reactions following the booster dose than they did after their second dose of mRNA vaccine, with 92% of reported reactions not considered serious?3

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References

  1. Covid-19 vaccine booster shots. Feb 2, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/booster-shot.html#:~:text=It%20depends.,after%20the%20J%26J%2FJanssen%20vaccine. Accessed Feb 24, 2022
  2. Waning 2-dose and 3-dose effectiveness of mRNA vaccines against Covid-19-associated emergency department and urgent care encounters and hospitalizations among adults during periods of delta and omicron variant predominance-VISION network, 110 states, August 2021-Jan 2022. Feb 18, 2022 https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7107e2.htm#T1_down. Accessed Feb 24, 2022.
  3. New CDC studies: Covid-19 boosters remains safe, continue to offer high levels of protection against severe disease over time and during Omicron and delta waves. Feb 11, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/s0211-covid-19-boosters.html. Accessed Feb 24, 2022

 

Disclosures: The listed questions and answers are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of Mercy Hospital-St. Louis, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Catalyst, Harvard University, their affiliate academic healthcare centers, or its contributors. Although every effort has been made to provide accurate information, the author is far from being perfect. The reader is urged to verify the content of the material with other sources as deemed appropriate and exercise clinical judgment in the interpretation and application of the information provided herein. No responsibility for an adverse outcome or guarantees for a favorable clinical result is assumed by the author. Thank you!

Should healthy adults receive a Covid vaccine booster shot and why?

My middle-age immunocompromised patient receiving immunosuppressants has had 3 doses of mRNA Covid vaccine and is now 4 months out from her 3rd dose.  Should she consider a fourth dose of Covid vaccine?

FA Manian MD, MPH, , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Yes! According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the U.S.,1 persons who are “moderately or severely immunocompromised” and have received 3 doses of an mRNA vaccine (either Pfizer [12+ years old) or Moderna (18+ years old]) should receive a 4th dose (“booster”) at least 3 months after the 3rd dose.  Similarly, those who initially received a J&J vaccine followed by one of the aforementioned mRNA vaccines and are at least 2 months from the 2nd dose should also receive a 3rd dose (booster. 

The following are considered moderately or severely immunocompromised conditions by CDC: 

  • Active cancer treatment for tumors or cancers of the blood
  • Organ transplant with immunosuppressants on board
  • Stem cell transplant within the last 2 years or taking immunosuppressants
  • Moderate or severe primary immunodeficiency (eg, DiGeorge or Wiskott-Aldrich syndromes)
  • Advanced or untreated HIV infection
  • Active treatment with high-dose corticosteroids or other immunosuppressants

A published study2 of Covid-19-associated emergency department (ED) and urgent care (UC) encounters and hospitalization among adults during a period including Omicron variant predominance in 10 states found vaccine effectiveness for ED/UC visits dropping to 66% and for hospitalization to 78% by the 4th month after a 3rd dose (vs 87% and 91%, respectively during the 2 months after a 3rd dose).  This study did not distinguish immunocompromised from non-immunocompromised persons, however.  More data on the vaccine effectiveness in non-immunocompromised persons at high risk of Covid-19 related complications would be welcome.

Bonus Pearl: Did you know that of American adults who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, only about 30% have received an additional Covid vaccine dose beyond the primary series ? 3 

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References

  1. Covid-19 vaccines for moderately or severely immunocompromised people (Updated Feb 17, 2022). Accessed Feb 21, 2022.  https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/recommendations/immuno.html?s_cid=10483:immunocompromised%20and%20covid%20vaccine:sem.ga:p:RG:GM:gen:PTN:FY21
  2. Waning 2-doe and 3-dose effectiveness of mRNA vaccines against Covid-10-associated emergency department and urgent care encounters and hospitalizations among adults during periods of delta and omicron variant predominance—Vision Network, 10 states, August 2021-January 2022. MMWR 2022; 71:255-63. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7107e2.htm?s_cid=mm7107e2_w
  3. Hubler S, Harman A. As Cov id surges, experts say U.S. booster effort is falling behind. NY Times, December 18, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/18/us/omicron-booster-shots-americans.html

Disclosures: The listed questions and answers are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of Mercy Hospital-St. Louis, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Catalyst, Harvard University, their affiliate academic healthcare centers, or its contributors. Although every effort has been made to provide accurate information, the author is far from being perfect. The reader is urged to verify the content of the material with other sources as deemed appropriate and exercise clinical judgment in the interpretation and application of the information provided herein. No responsibility for an adverse outcome or guarantees for a favorable clinical result is assumed by the author. Thank you!

My middle-age immunocompromised patient receiving immunosuppressants has had 3 doses of mRNA Covid vaccine and is now 4 months out from her 3rd dose.  Should she consider a fourth dose of Covid vaccine?

My elderly hospitalized patient with pneumonia has developed hypoglycemia within days of initiating piperacillin/tazobactam (Zosyn). Is there a connection between piperacillin/tazobactam and hypoglycemia?

FA Manian MD, MPH, , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Hypoglycemia is a rare (<1%) reported side effect of piperacillin/tazobactam (P/T) [1].  While the exact mechanism is unclear, hypoglycemia in this setting may be related to the adverse impact of P/T on renal function or possibly competitive inhibition of renal organic anion transporter 3 (OAT3).

The association of P/T with acute kidney injury (AKI) is well known. In a retrospective cohort analysis of 11,650 patients, P/T was associated with AKI in 7.8% of patients [2]. Of interest, compared to other antibiotics, P/T has also been shown to delay renal recovery in critically ill patients [3].  Decline in renal function may in turn reduce clearance of insulin and lead to hypoglycemia, particularly in patients who already have risk factors for hypoglycemia, such as malnutrition [4]. This is not surprising because renal clearance accounts for 25% of insulin clearance (rest is hepatic).  

Another plausible mechanism is the impact of P/T on glucose metabolism through competitive inhibition of OAT3 [5]. OAT3 is important in reabsorption of gluconeogenic precursors as well as excretion of uremic metabolites [6], which may further dysregulate hepatic gluconeogenesis and precipitate hypoglycemia. Fascinating!

Bonus pearl: Did you know that elderly patients may be at risk of reactive (post-prandial) hypoglycemia particularly in the setting of pre-diabetes or diabetes due to loss of coordination between glucose load and insulin secretion [7]? 

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Contributed by Michael Nance, MD, PhD, Department of Medicine, Mercy Hospital-St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri

References:

  1. Wyeth Pharmaceutical Inc. Zosyn (piperacillin/tazobactam) [package insert]. U.S. Food and Drug Administration website. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2017/050684s88s89s90_050750s37s38s39lbl.pdf. Revised May 2017. Accessed January 16, 2021.
  2. Rutter WC, Burgess DR, Talbert JC, Burgess DS. Acute kidney injury in patients treated with vancomycin and piperacillin-tazobactam: A retrospective cohort analysis. J Hosp Med. 2017 Feb;12(2):77-82. doi: 10.12788/jhm.2684. PMID: 28182801; PMCID: PMC5573255. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28182801/
  3. Jensen JS, Hein L, Lundgren B, et al. Kidney failure related to broad-spectrum antibiotics in critically ill patients: secondary end point results from a 1200 patient randomised trial. BMJ Open 2012;2:doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2011-000635  https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/2/e000635
  4. Leibovitz E, Adler H, Giryes S, Ditch M, Burg NF, Boaz M. Malnutrition risk is associated with hypoglycemia among general population admitted to internal medicine units. Results from the MENU study. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2018 Jun;72(6):888-893. doi: 10.1038/s41430-018-0143-9. Epub 2018 Mar 27. PMID: 29588529. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29588529/
  5. Wen S, Wang C, Duan Y, Huo X, Meng Q, Liu Z, Yang S, Zhu Y, Sun H, Ma X, Yang S, Liu K. OAT1 and OAT3 also mediate the drug-drug interaction between piperacillin and tazobactam. Int J Pharm. 2018 Feb 15;537(1-2):172-182. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2017.12.037. Epub 2017 Dec 23. PMID: 29277663. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29277663/
  6. Wu, W., Bush, K.T. & Nigam, S.K. Key Role for the Organic Anion Transporters, OAT1 and OAT3, in the in vivoHandling of Uremic Toxins and Solutes. Sci Rep 7, 4939 (2017). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5504054/
  7. Tamura Y, Araki A, Chiba Y, Horiuchi T, Mori S, Hosoi T. Postprandial reactive hypoglycemia in an oldest-old patient effectively treated with low-dose acarbose. Endocr J. 2006 Dec;53(6):767-71. doi: 10.1507/endocrj.k05-140. Epub 2006 Sep 12. PMID: 16966825. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16966825/ 

Disclosures: The listed questions and answers are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of Mercy Hospital-St. Louis, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Catalyst, Harvard University, their affiliate academic healthcare centers, or its contributors. Although every effort has been made to provide accurate information, the author is far from being perfect. The reader is urged to verify the content of the material with other sources as deemed appropriate and exercise clinical judgment in the interpretation and application of the information provided herein. No responsibility for an adverse outcome or guarantees for a favorable clinical result is assumed by the author. Thank you!

My elderly hospitalized patient with pneumonia has developed hypoglycemia within days of initiating piperacillin/tazobactam (Zosyn). Is there a connection between piperacillin/tazobactam and hypoglycemia?

Is there a connection between eosinophils and sickle cell anemia?

FA Manian MD, MPH, , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Patients with sickle cell anemia (SCA) frequently (~55%) demonstrate absolute eosinophil count (AEC) (>450 cells/uL) during non-crisis steady state without significant change during sickle cell crisis [1-4]. Although the exact mechanism for this finding is not clear, it may be related to elevated plasma levels of circulating factors such as eotaxin, IL-5, and GM-CSF in SCA [2,3].

Cumulative data from 3 independent cross-sectional studies involving 131 SCA patients reported a mean AEC of ~498 cells/u (range 490-504 cells/uL) when not in crisis [2,3,6]. Surprisingly, two additional studies evaluating 200 patients did not observe a significant difference in AEC between steady- and crisis-states [1,4].

The significance of elevated AEC in patients with SCA is unclear. Of interest, several studies of eosinophils isolated from patients with SCA have demonstrated increased eosinophil adhesion to blood vessels, degranulation, and reactive oxygen species production compared to healthy controls [5,6]. In another study, hydroxyurea was shown to reduce eosinophil adhesion and degranulation [2].

While it is unknown whether eosinophils directly contribute to the development of vaso-occlusive crisis, these studies suggest eosinophils may be an important therapeutic target in SCA. 

Bonus pearl: Did you know that low eosinophil count may help predict infection in SCA patients? A retrospective study of SCA patients with and without infection showed that relative eosinopenia (0.025 compared to 0.2 x 109 cells/L) was highly sensitive (100%) and specific (93.3%) for infection [7].

Contributed by Michael Nance MD, PhD, Department of Medicine, Mercy Hospital-St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri

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References:

  1. Ekeke GI. Sickle cell disease: some haematological changes in steady state and crisis. Biomed Biochem Acta 1987; 46:S197-S201. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3593298/
  2. Pallis FR, Nicola Conran, Kleber Yotsumoto Fertrin, Sara T. Olalla-Saad, Fernando Ferreira Costa, Carla Fernanda Franco-Penteado; Altered Functional Properties of Eosinophils In Sickle Cell Anemia and Effects of Hydroxyurea Therapy. Blood 2010; 116 (21): 2656. https://doi.org/10.1182/blood.V116.21.2656.2656
  3. Conran N, Saad ST, Costa FF, Ikuta T. Leukocyte numbers correlate with plasma levels of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor in sickle cell disease. Ann Hematol. 2007; 86(4):255-261. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17205286/
  4. Klouda T, Raybagkar D, Bernstein B, Apollonsky N, “Changes in Blood Profile from Steady State in Patients with Sickle Cell Anemia Admitted for Vaso-occlusive Crisis and Acute Chest Syndrome”, Advances in Hematology, vol. 2020, Article ID 3656717, 5 pages, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/3656717
  5. Canalli AA, Conran N, Fattori A, Saad ST, Costa FF. Increased adhesive properties of eosinophils in sickle cell disease. Exp Hematol. 2004; 32(8):728-734. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15308324/
  6. Pallis FR, Conran N, Fertrin KY, Olalla Saad ST, Costa FF, Franco-Penteado CF. Hydroxycarbamide reduces eosinophil adhesion and degranulation in sickle cell anaemia patients. Br J Haematol. 2014; 164(2):286-295. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24383847/
  7. Ahmed, SG and Uraka, A. Eosinopenia as a marker of infection in patients with sickle cell anemia: A preliminary report. Int. J. Biomed. Health Sci. 2010. 6(1):57-61. http://www.ojs.klobexjournals.com/index.php/ijbhs/article/viewFile/671/741

 

Disclosures: The listed questions and answers are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of Mercy Hospital-St. Louis, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Catalyst, Harvard University, their affiliate academic healthcare centers, or its contributors. Although every effort has been made to provide accurate information, the author is far from being perfect. The reader is urged to verify the content of the material with other sources as deemed appropriate and exercise clinical judgment in the interpretation and application of the information provided herein. No responsibility for an adverse outcome or guarantees for a favorable clinical result is assumed by the author. Thank you!

Is there a connection between eosinophils and sickle cell anemia?