JANUARY 19, 2024

Arboviral Infections Pose Serious Risks to Patients on Rituximab

By Myles Starr

Patients taking rituximab, a B-cell–depleting monoclonal antibody (BDT), are at high risk for neuroinvasive disease and death after infection with arboviral pathogens. Furthermore, instances of infection and mortality are likely underreported due to difficult and costly molecular testing that is often required to identify the cause of illness in immunosuppressed patients (Clin Infect Dis 2023;76[6]:1142-1148).

Rituximab is used to treat a variety of immunocompromising