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COVID Virus Persistence with DMARD Use
MedPage Today
Drugs commonly used to treat systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs) may keep the SARS-CoV-2 circulating after COVID-19 infection in patients with these conditions, with researchers documenting substantially increased viral antigen persistence compared with other post-COVID patients.
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UBER Rheumatology Ride (3.6.2026)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from this week on RheumNow.com
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The 2025 Rheumatology Year in Review
The year 2025 presented numerous advances in rheumatology and related inflammatory and autoimmune disorders ranging from several new groundbreaking FDA approvals/indications, drug developments, game-changing guidelines and practices that will impact patient care for rheumatic diseases.
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Pre-ACR25 (10.24.2025)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and info reports the day before ACR 2025
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Does RTX work in CNS lupus? Japanese experience in 17 refractory NP-SLE pts Rx w/ RTX - 16/17 had significant improve. & 1 partial improvement -- none had NP-SLE relapse. Two died during COVID> https://t.co/GpCgpSxn37 https://t.co/PMz05MHBhj
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
PTPN22 1858C>T allele, seen in 5-15% NAmerica, often assoc. w/ autoimmune dz risk. BUT...PNAS shows Ptpn22 augments innate immunity and enhances NK activity against coronavirus infection https://t.co/1AMTuOXtoT https://t.co/9f3JdimJsG
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
No link between pregnancy tylenol & autism. JAMA Pediatrics data from 1.5 million Danish children( 1997 -2022); ~2% were tylenol exposed during preg. 2% of these Dx w/ Dx w/ autism (vs. 3% not exposed) https://t.co/Pp1tE54Dic https://t.co/qu61jKolpN
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
COVID Virus Persistence with DMARD Use
Drugs commonly used to treat systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs) may prolong SARS-CoV-2 circulation after COVID-19 infection in patients with these conditions, with researchers documenting substantially increased viral antigen https://t.co/szeILIbmjF
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
5 yr Italian study of hospitalized autoimmune pts(2018-23) 4,896 IMID pts compared to 301,126 non-IMIM. IMID had signif higher risk cancer (adj OR 1.32) highest 1st yr. Decreased from 1.83 @ yr 1 to 1.2 @5+ yrs. IMID had more lung & bladder CA, leukemia lymphoma & melanoma https://t.co/UXqDHQtzv0
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Myocarditis causes 17,000 deaths/Yr worldwide. Causes include A) iatrogenic/autoimmune: checkpoint inhibitors & gene therapy; B) High income countries: parvo B19, herpesvirus 6; C) low income: dengue, HIV, malaria and Trypanosoma cruzi (Chagas disease) https://t.co/en4OnhWPda https://t.co/urwkjlVeg6
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
CDC study of Death certificate data showed that btw 2018–2023, there were 14,936 #SLE deaths (43% w/ SLE as the underlying cause). Mortality rate per million: females 5.97 > males 1.16, blacks 10.7. Causes of death:heart disease (0.93), cancer (0.56), COVID-19 (0.51). https://t.co/qTe6O66wRO
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
FDA has approved tocilizumab-anoh (Avtozma; Celltrion), a biosimilar to Actemra, for intravenous and subcutaneous use in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), giant cell arteritis, polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis, systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and COVID-19. https://t.co/qw7SJ7ZCK9
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
SMILE enrollment hampered by COVID - yet failed to show a protective effect for HCQ in preventing SLE. Can you Prevent SLE? Dr. David Karp lecturing at UTSW @drdavidkarp @utswrheum https://t.co/GImHpycbgO
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Scandinavian study of > 13.6 million PYs shows NO increased risk of myositis after SARS-CoV-2 (mRNA & adenoviral vector) vaccines. Data from 101 myositis events in 7,002 398 unvaccinated PYs. Adj IRR 180d risk was 0.84 (0.63–1.11) and 1.31 (0.72–2.36) respectively https://t.co/D5KVyvXaot
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Do Patients with Rheumatic Diseases 'Weather' the Storm?
Dr. Janet Pope reports on abstract 0164 (Online Patient Survey on the Impact of Extreme Weather Events on Autoimmune and Rheumatic Diseases) presented at #acr25.
https://t.co/rY3T6tWsgu https://t.co/vdgT2DB5lH
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
Why are vaccine Abs maintained after CAR-T
-depletion of pathogenic #Abs are dampened/eliminated
Clonal repetoire expansion
Remission=naive B cell pop'n
Reset immune system sparing memory cells
vs ?not all pathogenic cells eliminated in tissue
#ACR25 @RheumNow @ACRheum
#26S21 https://t.co/jb3dD5Ssip
Janet Pope Janetbirdope ( View Tweet)
@CarolineDiorio @ChildrensPhila @RheumNow Indeed, there are a lot of familiar HLH/MAS friends in the post-CAR-T CRS mix...
(indeed, rheum friends from many places)
@CarolineDiorio @ChildrensPhila in the #ACR25 BCRC pre-meeting @RheumNow https://t.co/OzWu3MV1FA
Links:
David Liew drdavidliew ( View Tweet)
Abstract 0806
Compared to belimumab, Anifrolumab associated with:
↑ infection risk b (HR 1.40, 95% CI 1.05–1.88)
↑ herpes zoster (HR 3.94) & COVID-19 (HR 1.66)
No diff in mortality or hospital use
📈 3-yr infection: 38.3% vs 21.3%
@RheumNow #ACR25
Akhil Sood MD, MS AkhilSoodMD ( View Tweet)
Colchicine Ineffective in Long COVID
Management of long COVID has been perplexing with symptoms having functional and possibly inflammatory origins. Colchicine has been studied in long COVID and failed to improve functional capacity, respiratory function, or inflammatory https://t.co/9E3dvUFqJP
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
UK remission rates for early RA have been stablebut there are variations. DAS study of 13 752 RA, 35% in remission - but 28% (London) to 40% (East England). Delays in referral since COVID-19. Less remission w/ youth, female, Black, hi DAS28, delayed DMARDs. longer Sxs duration https://t.co/57QlnEqBci
Dr. John Cush RheumNow ( View Tweet)
