Celiac Disease and Covid-19: Thread with selected highlights from the webinar today co-hosted by @NationalCeliac and the @harvardmed Celiac Research Program, moderated by Dr. Alan Leichtner @BostonChildrens, featuring Dr. Alessio Fasano @CeliacResearch and Dr. Jonathan Li @DrJLi
Physician-scientist Dr. Jonathan Li @BrighamWomens, director of the Harvard University Virology Specialty Laboratory, opened with an excellent overview of Covid-19 that I highly recommend watching, but for length I will focus on the celiac-specific content in this thread
Dr. Alessio Fasano said that because Covid-19 is brand new, "we are building the airplane while we are flying" and it's too early to answer many of the questions that come up about how #celiac disease as an autoimmune condition interacts with #Covid19
Dr. Fasano: Although there are no official results yet from research underway about #celiac disease and #Covid19, so far there is no evidence that having celiac disease increases risks of Covid-19. If the celiac is well-treated, the susceptibility is like the general population.
Dr. Fasano: In one study, about a third of Covid-19 patients reported gastrointestinal symptoms such as loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, but 100% of the time those symptoms were present with non-GI Covid symptoms and they lasted only about a day on average
Dr. Fasano: Regarding the pandemic, "I did not see this coming and it's been one heck of a ride." His team had to shut down its lab and clinical visits (now doing virtual visits) and has helped some of its pediatric celiac patients recover from Covid-19.
Dr. Fasano: As some #celiac patients do not seroconvert after a hepatitis B vaccine (it's safe but not effective), how patients with celiac will respond to a prospective #Covid19 vaccine is a concern of his. Until a vaccine is developed, it's much too early to tell.
Dr. Fasano: Although there are more questions than answers about #celiac and #Covid-19 so far, you can lower your risk of Covid-19 with commonsense measures advised by experts for the general population.
Dr. Fasano: Like everyone, patients with #celiac disease can lower their risk of Covid-19 by wearing a mask, socially distancing, getting a flu shot, and taking steps to sleep well, eat well and lower stress (he acknowledged this last one can be a challenge right now).
Dr. Fasano: These commonsense steps to lowering your Covid-19 risk will boost your immune system more than taking vitamins and supplements.
Dr. Fasano: In response to a viewer question, he said he does not believe gluten in Covid-19 treatments is a concern
Watch the recorded webinar "Celiac Disease and Covid-19" and learn much more than what is summarized here when it is posted shortly by @NationalCeliac and @CeliacResearch
For further information, Dr. Fasano @CeliacResearch previously recorded two short, useful videos on #celiac / #Covid19 and you can watch them or read the transcripts: bit.ly/MGHcovidceliac1 and bit.ly/MGHcovidceliac2
Feel free to add additional points you got out of this webinar in the replies (or correct any mistakes I may have made) and check out the upcoming webinars in this @NationalCeliac/ @harvardmed symposium series nationalceliac.org/blog/email-new…
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