International Team Drafts List of Infections Associated with Biologic Therapy for Inflammatory Conditions

VBCR - December 2015, Volume 4, No 6 - In the Literature

An expert panel has grappled with the issue of opportunistic infections in people being treated with biologics for rheumatoid arthritis and other immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. The results of their work were published in the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases.

The group of rheumatologists and infectious-disease specialists from the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, and Austria pored over the literature. Based on the studies they found, they arrived at an exhaustive list of pathogens that should be considered to be ‘indicator’ infections. Their definition of indicator infections is the presence or specific presentation of a pathogen that suggests a high likelihood of an alteration in host immunity.

Among the organisms they included in the list were oral candida, invasive forms of salmonella and other bacterial diarrheal pathogens, and herpes zoster. The consensus panel members expressed the hope that their work will help accurately categorize and classify infections that occur during clinical trials, including helping guide data collection in studies of biologics that are in the pipeline. Winthrop KL, et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2015;74(12):2107-2116.

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