On Wednesday, October 4, internist-nephrologist Marcia Kho will defend her dissertation at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. Her research focused on the immunogenic effects of vaccination against varicella zoster virus and SARS-CoV-2 in patients with different stages of kidney damage.
Patients on dialysis or who have undergone a kidney transplant have an increased risk of serious morbidity and mortality due to viral infections and vaccination is therefore important for them. However, because they are immunocompromised, they are less able to mount an adequate immune response.
In her PhD research, Kho looked at the immunogenic effects of vaccination against 2 viruses – varicella zoster virus and SARS-CoV-2 – in patients with chronic kidney damage, dialysis patients and patients undergoing a kidney transplant. Together with colleagues from the RECOVAC consortium, she found, among other things, that booster vaccinations against SARS-CoV-2 are useful in kidney transplant patients. Even among patients who did not develop an immune response after the first 2 or 3 injections, 60% did so after a booster vaccination.
Kho wrote her thesis entitled ‘Prevention of Varicella Zoster and SARS-CoV-2 Disease in Kidney Transplant Recipients’ under the supervision of supervisors Prof. Dr. R. Zietse and Prof. Dr. MEJ Reinders and co-supervisors Dr. NM van Besouw and Dr. DA Hesselink.
Bron:
2023-09-18 08:37:01
#Promotion #Prevention #varicella #zoster #SARSCoV2 #kidney #patients #MedNet
