The course of subacute thyroiditis from COVID-19 infection

Abstract

The aim of this literature review is the analysis of the new data on subacute thyroiditis that emerged due to studying of potential effect SARS-CoV-2 has on disease’s manifestation and clinical course. The pandemic affected hundreds of millions of people, and thyroiditis as a consequence of viral infection has become more frequently observed in scientific research and case reports. Many academic works indicate that the virus directly impacts both the thyroid gland and the immune system, and some new pathogenic mechanisms were discovered during the course of the pandemic. Despite the fact that subacute thyroiditis is a self-limiting disease, its possible outcome is a permanent primary hypothyroidism with a need of a lifelong thyroid hormone replacement therapy. It also has a tendency to be relapsing. Certain characteristics has been found which show how modern de Quervain thyroiditis is different from the one several years ago. The scale of the pandemic made it evident for scientific community that there is a need for a rapid design of a vaccine as a specific preventive measure. Millions of people received COVID-19 vaccines and reports about subacute thyroiditis following the vaccination started to emerge, the systemic reviews on the issue were written, all this is also highlighted in this review article. Despite the fact that the World Health Organization declared an end to the pandemic in May 2023, the virus itself is likely to still be circulating in the population and it will continue to be one of the etiological factors behind de Quervain thyroiditis, also, coronaviral evolution did not come to an end.