Rapid Recovery in COVID-19 Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection Treated with Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues worldwide. We report here two cases of chronic hepatitis B patients with acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection treated with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate who demonstrated a favorable outcome. This report adds some evidence that concurrent HBV infection may not worsen COVID-19 infection and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate treatment may have partial positive effect on COVID-19 rapid recovery. COVID-19 patients were considered to be advanced age and underlying diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The WHO has estimated that 257 million people had chronic hepatitis B infection by 2015, and many of them have progressed to end-stage liver disease. Data from two large cohorts showed that 0.1-2.1% of COVID-19 patients have hepatitis B virus (HBV) coinfection; 1,2 however, the clinical evidence of SARS-CoV-2 and HBV coinfection on the severity and outcome of COVID-19 is very limited. Most studies have illustrated that HBV coinfection does not aggravate the disease, while a few studies reported adverse results. 3,4 Here, we report two cases of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection treated with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) who demonstrated a favorable outcome.