Dear LASID Members

Special greetings and a great 2022 for everyone!

The last two years, amid the COVID19 pandemic, we had to reinvent ourselves as people, as healthcare professionals and as a society to adapt to this difficult moment. Although we have already advanced in the control of the most serious cases by population vaccination, countries with extreme poverty had difficult to get their vaccines and still allows viral circulation and the possibility of the emergence of new variants, exposing everyone on the planet to risks. In addition, a worldwide anti-vaccine movement, especially in European countries and North America, has been an obstacle to achieving greater success in controlling cases of COVID19, which have increased again in the last month. Therefore, we are still on alert, awaiting the worldwide evolution of cases with caution.

The context of the pandemic has shown us once again the importance of understanding the immune system and how the wide variety of immune responses are necessary for our bodies to function properly and to fight different pathogens. Our IEI patients were a matter of concern to all family members and health professionals, as we did not know how they would react to contact with the new coronavirus. Elegant studies showed us that some patients with certain genetic variants associated with the immune system would have chances of more severe cases of COVID19, making our list of inborn errors of immunity increase.

All worldwide efforts aimed at combating the pandemic have had some consequences for the day-to-day management of patients with IEI. Many ongoing projects in several countries to carry out newborn screening for severe combined immunodeficiency have remained stagnant or have declined in status. And even more serious, there was a worldwide reduction in plasma donation, essential for obtaining the human immunoglobulin used by approximately 70% patients with IEI, leading to a difficulty in maintaining adequate protective levels of antibodies for our patients. The reduction in the supply of human immunoglobulin is a key warning for Latin America to enter the fight for the donation of plasma and the production of human immunoglobulin, both locally and through reputable worldwide production companies.

I invite everyone to participate in our activities, by hour scheduled online, with online courses already available and new ones that will emerge. We would like to schedule face-to-face events as soon as possible so that we, like good Latinos, can meet, hug, teach and learn from each other and socialize. I put myself at everyone’s disposal so that we can make a 2022/2023 biennium with great advances for LASID and for our patients.

Gesmar Rodrigues Silva Segundo