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COVID-19 and our armamentarium of strategies to combat it have evolved dramatically since the virus first emerged in late 2019. Vaccination remains the primary strategy to prevent severe illness, although the protective effect can vary in patients with hematologic malignancy. Strategies such as additional vaccine doses and now bivalent boosters can contribute to increased immune response, especially in the face of evolving viral variants. Because of these new variants, no approved monoclonal antibodies are available for pre-exposure or postexposure prophylaxis. Patients with symptomatic, mild-to-moderate COVID-19 and risk features for developing severe COVID-19, who present within 5-7 days of symptom onset, should be offered outpatient therapy with nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (NR) or in some cases with intravenous (IV) remdesivir. NR interacts with many blood cancer treatments, and reviewing drug interactions is essential. Patients with severe COVID-19 should be managed with IV remdesivir, tocilizumab (or an alternate interleukin-6 receptor blocker), or baricitinib, as indicated based on the severity of illness. Dexamethasone can be considered on an individual basis, weighing oxygen requirements and patients' underlying disease and their perceived ability to clear infection. Finally, as CD19-targeted and B-cell maturation (BCMA)-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies become more heavily used for relapsed/refractory hematologic malignancies, viral infections including COVID-19 are increasingly recognized as common complications, but data on risk factors and prophylaxis in this patient population are scarce. We summarize the available evidence regarding viral infections after CAR T-cell therapy.

Purpose: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation is a potentially fatal complication of chemotherapy that can be largely prevented with medication, provided that asymptomatic HBV carriers are identified. We explored the knowledge, beliefs, and practices of Canadian oncologists/hematologists regarding HBV screening before chemotherapy., Methods: A novel questionnaire was mailed to all practicing hematologists/oncologists, where publicly accessible online physician registries facilitated identification of these specialists (71% of the Canadian physician population)., Results: Of 504 potentially eligible practitioners, 311 (62%) responded, of whom 246 indicated that they administered chemotherapy and were thus included in final analyses. Respondents tended to underestimate the risk of HBV reactivation, and recognition of the major risk factor for HBV carriage (ie, birth in an endemic area) was low. Forty percent of respondents reported rarely or never testing for HBV before chemotherapy, and 36% reported screening only those patients with HBV risk factors. In multivariate analysis, having a predominantly hematologic practice, practitioner experience with HBV reactivation, ability to correctly estimate the risk of HBV reactivation, fewer years in practice, and female sex were independently associated with an increased likelihood of screening for HBV., Conclusion: Canadian oncologists and hematologists tend to underestimate the risk of HBV reactivation and report relatively low HBV screening rates. Among those practitioners who do screen, the favored strategy is selective screening of patients with HBV risk factors. However, oncologists'/hematologists' knowledge regarding risk factors for HBV carriage seems to be low, potentially undermining the success of a selective screening strategy.

Purpose: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation is a potentially fatal complication of chemotherapy that can be largely prevented with antiviral prophylaxis. It remains unclear whether HBV screening is cost effective., Methods: A decision model was developed to compare the clinical outcomes, costs, and cost effectiveness of three HBV screening strategies for patients with lymphoma before R-CHOP (rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone) chemotherapy: screen all patients for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg; Screen-All), screen patients identified as being at high risk for HBV infection (Screen-HR), and screen no one (Screen-None). Patients testing positive were administered antiviral therapy until 6 months after completion of chemotherapy. Those not screened were initiated on antiviral therapy only if HBV hepatitis occurred. Probabilities of HBV and lymphoma outcomes were derived from systematic literature review. A third-party payer perspective was adopted, costs were expressed in 2011 Canadian dollars, and a 1-year time horizon was used., Results: Screen-All was the dominant strategy. It was least costly at $32,589, compared with $32,598 for Screen-HR and $32,657 for Screen-None. It was also associated with the highest 1-year survival rate at 84.99%, compared with 84.96% for Screen-HR and 84.86% for Screen-None. The analysis was sensitive to the prevalence of HBsAg positivity in the low-risk population, with Screen-HR becoming least costly when this value was ≤ 0.20%., Conclusion: In patients receiving R-CHOP for lymphoma, screening all patients for HBV reduces the rate of HBV reactivation (10-fold) and is less costly than screening only high-risk patients or screening no patients.