This nested project of the Swiss Multiple Sclerosis Cohort (SMSC) is to assess the severity of COVID-19 and the magnitude of antibody response after infection with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in patients already treated or not with various immunotherapies for multiple sclerosis followed in the framework of the SMSC.~To assess the frequency and severity of SARS-CoV-2 infections and associated symptoms in the study population, data is collected from systematic questioning during the SMSC-visits and from serum samples collected every 6-12 months within the SMSC (for measurement of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in pre-pandemic reference samples and prospectively to determine the anti-SARS-CoV-2-serostatus during the study period).~Combining the information on anti-SARS- CoV-2 serostatus and infection history opens the opportunity to determine the number of patients without or with only mild vs. moderate to severe COVID-19 symptoms in large groups of patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) treated with immunotherapies targeting various components of the immune system.
This nested project of the Swiss Multiple Sclerosis Cohort (SMSC) is to assess the severity of COVID-19 and the magnitude of antibody response after infection with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in patients already treated or not with various immunotherapies for multiple sclerosis followed in the framework of the SMSC.