Post COVID Autoimmunity

Immune-related manifestations are increasingly recognised in patients with COVID-19, which comprises more than 70 different systemic and organ-specific disorders. Although the inflammation is predominantly focused on the respiratory system, some patients develop inflammatory reactions involving extrapulmonary tissues. The signs and symptoms are very diverse in such situations and can resemble some autoimmune or inflammatory diseases.

The severity of the manifestations varies from benign self-limiting to life-threatening systemic syndromes. Some can emerge within the first 2 weeks of SARS-CoV-2 infection, whereas others tend to appear in the late post-infectious stage or even in asymptomatic patients.

As the body of evidence consists predominantly of case series and uncontrolled studies, diagnostic and therapeutic decision-making better guided by rheumatologists and immunologists is needed in such situations.

There is a need to know the mechanisms involved and apply that knowledge to early diagnosis and appropriate standardised treatment protocols.

. 2021 Jun;17(6):315-332.