Asthma and allergy practice and COVID 19: a review. Part II

The aggressive SARS-CoV-2 virus mainly infects the lungs, most patients with asthma have an increased risk of infection and are likely to have a potentially more severe course of COVID-19.Materials and methods. We used various full-text and abstract databases.Patients with asthma and concomitant allergic rhinitis are among the most costly patients. The shared immunologic pathogenesis are nasal bronchial reflex, allergen sensitization, and epidemiologic studies that link asthma and allergy. There is an interrelatedness of the upper and lower airway function, the link operating directionally from the sinuses to the lungs. In addition, there is a co-occurrence of asthma and allergic rhinitis in the population. Furthermore, both conditions respond to similar treatments, including antihistamine-containing therapies that may ameliorate allergic rhinitis and also potentially help alleviate asthma symptoms.An important problem for practitioners is that patients with bronchoobstruction and allergy syndrome are often afraid of the risk of seeking medical attention during a COVID-19 pandemic and may confuse allergic symptoms with symptoms of coronavirus infection.The U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention has identified algorithms for providing non-COVID-19 care during a pandemic: to quickly detect and respond to an increase in COVID-19 cases among patients with asthma; provide assistance in the safest way; keep in mind that services may need to be gradually expanded.A rapid systematic review was undertaken to inform this scientific brief. The review set out to assess the available peer-reviewed literature regarding whether PWA are at increased risk of infection with the virus that causes COVID-19, and/or of experiencing complications or death.