From President Alejandra Menendez:
Considering the ongoing pandemic situation and the importance of experience sharing on 8 August 2020, HAE Argentina held a patient webinar to present the first reported case of COVID-19 in an HAE patient in our country. The meeting was co-hosted by Dr. Ricardo Zweiner, Dr. Jesica Cepeda and myself as the meeting moderator.
Dr. Zweiner (Allergy and Clinical Inmunology, Hospital Universitario Austral; member of the HAE Scientific Committee at Asociacion Argentina de Alergia e Inmunologia Clinica (AAAeIC); member of Sociedad LatinoAmericana de Alergia, Asma e Inmunologia (SLAAI)) gave an excellent overview of HAE as well as of the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus and the current situation in Argentina. He moved on to specifically consider COVID-19 in HAE patients and provided some useful general recommendations. He then particularly referred to the case of the HAE patient he treated during the course of her COVID-19 infection.
Following Dr. Zweiner’s presentation, patients were moved to hear Jesica Cepeda’s personal life story with HAE and her struggle to get a correct diagnosis and how she achieved her freedom once she learnt how to self-inject and treat her condition at home. Jesica Cepeda, who is a medical doctor specializing in Gastroenterology at Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, retold her experience during the days she suffered from COVID-19 and the successful outcome of her treatment.
The presentations were followed by a Q&A session which resulted in an extremely enriching discussion for all the attendees; many doctors from our country who had also joined the meeting were able to provide their comments and suggestions.
Needless to say, the webinar provided a wonderful opportunity for experience sharing and for venting out fears and concerns regarding the effects of COVID-19 in HAE patients. We thank all the participants from the HAE community in Argentina and our friends from several Latin American countries – Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador – who also attended the meeting.
