UNASSIGNED: Objective. Chronic nasal carriage of @entity794 (SA) increases the risk of relapse while Rituximab (RTX) is an effective agent for inducing and maintaining remission in @entity1 with @entity2883 with @entity2883 (GPA). We investigated whether B cell depletion and @entity7893 that occur during RTX treatment increase the risk of chronic SA nasal carriage and subsequent disease flares, in GPA @entity1 on long-term RTX maintenance therapy. Methods. Retrospective cohort study from a disease registry involving 29 GPA @entity1 receiving RTX maintenance (median RTX dose of 9 g) during a median period of 49 months. Nasal swabs were collected prior and during RTX for a median of 3 and 9 swabs respectively. Persistent SA nasal carriage was defined with the presence of SA in more than 75% of nasal swabs. Results. SA nasal carriage did not change during RTX (p = 0.297). However, the rate of positive nasal swabs in GPA @entity1 with transient SA nasal carriage during RTX maintenance increased from 0 prior RTX to 0.42 during RTX (p = 0.017). Persistent SA nasal carriage did not increase the risk of relapses (p = 0.844), of @entity7893 (p = 0.122) and of severe @entity281 (p = 0.144), but reduced the risk of @entity281 (p = 0.044). Change in SA carriage status during RTX did not influence the risk of relapses (p = 0.756), hypogammaglobulinamia (p = 0.474) and @entity281 , either severe (p = 0.913) or chronic (p = 0.121). Conclusion. Long-term RTX maintenance therapy in GPA @entity1 did not significantly influence SA nasal carriage status. Persistent SA carriage during long-term RTX treatment did not seem to increase the risk of relapses, but seemed to decrease the risk of @entity7893 associated @entity281 .

@entity794 carriage and long-term Rituximab treatment for @entity2883 with XXXX .

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients'] @entity794 :: ('1280', 'Species') :: ['Staphylococcus aureus'] @entity281 :: ('MESH:D007239', 'Disease') :: ['infections', 'chronic infections'] @entity7893 :: ('MESH:D000361', 'Disease') :: ['hypogammaglobulinemia'] @entity2883 :: ('MESH:D014890', 'Disease') :: ['Granulomatosis', 'polyangiitis']
@entity2883 :: (MESH:D014890,Disease) :: ['polyangiitis']
