Mip-C, new disease associated with Covid: 8 deaths recorded by the study. Bassetti: «First time I’ve heard of it». Andreoni: it’s a serious thing

Although the Covid pandemic is now over, the wake of the Sars-CoV-2 virus still strikes. A group of international researchers has discovered a new condition that can develop in individuals infected with Sars-CoV-2, even in those with mild or no Covid symptoms. It’s about the “Mda5 autoimmunity and interstitial pneumonia contemporary with Covid”, renamed as Mip-C. The US-UK research was published on “eBIOMedicines”. This syndrome not only can be fatal – they have been reported eight deaths out of 60 cases described in the study – but it can also affect people who have had a mild or asymptomatic infection with the virus.

The disease and its symptoms

MIP-C is a rare, inflammatory, chronic autoimmune disease that primarily affects the skin, muscles, and lungs, causing a rapidly progressive and potentially fatal interstitial lung syndrome. It is caused by antibodies that attack the MDA5 enzyme, a receptor that detects RNA viruses such as SARS-CoV-2. This disease is associated with Covid-19, with an increase in cases from 2019 to 2021 and a decline in 2022. Symptoms include lung scarring, arthritis, myalgia, and rashes. Studies have found that patients with high levels of autoimmune reaction against MDA5 also have elevated levels of interleukin-15, which correlates with progressive pulmonary fibrosis. Not all patients had a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, suggesting that even mild infections can induce MIP-C. MIP-C appears to have spread beyond the UK, but specific data is lacking.

Bassetti’s statements

«We don’t have to worry about this Mip-C, it is an autoimmune disease that can be induced by Sars-CoV-2 – Matteo Bassetti, director of infectious diseases at the San Martino polyclinic hospital in Genoa, explains to Adnkronos Salute – it is the first time that I hear about it in 4 years of Covid. These are interesting works carried out during the pandemic, but I have never seen a case since I have been doing this job. Sars-CoV-2 certainly may have exacerbated some diseases, it may have “switched on” some autoimmune lung diseases are already known, but – he concludes – I don’t think this is a big problem”.

ANDREONI’S OPINION

Mip-C is an acronym that is worrying those involved in research on Sars-CoV-2, a new condition that can develop in individuals infected by the virus that is no longer pandemic, as a recent study has shown. «It is Mda5 autoimmunity and interstitial pneumonia contemporary with Covid, but it is a distinctive form of dermatomyositis – an autoimmune disease – in which the body develops antibodies towards structures of the body itself, from the muscles to the skin. Today this international study tells us that Sars-CoV-2 infection is the trigger. Dermatomyositis is a serious disease, even lethal in some cases. This and other studies are shining a light on how Sars-CoV-2 can trigger autoimmune diseases, Mip-C will not be the only one». The report for Adnkronos Salute is infectious disease specialist Massimo Andreoni, scientific director of Simit, the Italian Society of Infectious Diseases, and full professor at the Tor Vergata University of Rome. The line of studies that is investigating this condition, Mip-C, «it is very interesting because after 4 years of work on Sars-CoV-2, new links with various autoimmune diseases are being discovered. The cause of dermatomyositis was hypothesized to be a virus – continues Andreoni – and today we know that Covid most likely plays a role”. A pathogen that continues to create problems, then? »Many discoveries come precisely because as a scientific community we are studying this respiratory virus in great depth, therefore – he concludes – in the near future we will find other diseases linked to this infection».

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