Thyroid Disease and Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Are individuals with autoimmune thyroid disease at increased risk of COVID-19 infection?
Excerpt from an article published by the British Thyroid Foundation.
COVID-19 is a new virus, so we have no information on how it affects individuals with thyroid disease. However, thyroid disease is not known to be associated with increased risk of viral infections in general, nor is there an association between thyroid disease and severity of the viral infection.
Many people are asking whether having an autoimmune thyroid disease means you are immunocompromised. We can confirm it does not. The part of the immune system
that’s responsible for autoimmune thyroid conditions is separate to the immune system that’s responsible for fighting off viral infections, such as COVID-19. Patients who are classified as having a weakened immune system (immunocompromised) are typically those with conditions such as leukaemias, HIV and AIDS, or who are on medicines such as high-dose steroids, immunomodulatory drugs for rheumatoid arthritis or multiple sclerosis, cancer chemotherapy or following organ transplantation.
Read the full article: https://www.btf-thyroid.org/news/thyroid-disease-and-coronavirus-covid-19