CLL & the Corona virus

[hazelmark]

I have been on the FLAIR drug trials for five years, taking

Ibrutinib, plus Co-Trimoxazole and Aciclovir.

My blood cancer has gone into remission, but there

are still enough bad cells for me to continue on the drugs.

Recently I developed a dry cough and inflamed vocal cords.

The GP put me on penicillin two weeks ago, but still not cured.

How weak is my immune system in view of the present

guidelines. I am 67 years of age and fit for my age.

[cajunjeff]

Hazel I would not think anyone on here can quantify for you the degree to which your immune system might be compromised by your Cll and subsequent treatment with an immunosuppressive drug like ibrutinib. I am not even sure your doctor can quantify that with any degree of accuracy.

I think the best answer might lie in how you have done the past five years. If you have had infrequent infections that have healed normally, I would think your immune system is working reasonably well. If you are prone to infections that linger, that would suggest a higher degree of impairment. And then there is all the in between.

If your question is covid related, it’s that much more complicated. The fact we might appear to be doing well with our Cll and not having frequent infections may not translate into a conclusion we will do fine with covid. Covid is a new virus our immune system has never seen and it’s not clear, at least to me, how much increased risk we are at or how many of us might do just fine with covid.

I am assuming until data tells me otherwise that covid carries an unreasonable risk of harm to me. One last thought, there is some evidence ibrutinib restores our immune systems to some extent. I have no idea to measure that and no plans to test it out with covid.