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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · J Lab Physicians
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1770699
Case Series

Invasive Mixed Fungal Disease after COVID-19: A Series of Seven Cases

Vaishali A. Walke
1   Path & Lab Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
,
E. Jayashankar
1   Path & Lab Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
,
T. Karuna
2   Microbiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
,
Jai Kumar Chourasia
1   Path & Lab Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
,
Hemlata Panwar
1   Path & Lab Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
,
Neelkamal Kapoor
1   Path & Lab Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
,
Vikas Gupta
3   Otorhinolaryngology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
,
Sarman Singh
4   Institute of Science & Engineering Research Centre, IISER, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
5   Medical Science & Engineering Research (MEDSER), All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
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Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recent global pandemic that is caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The patients of COVID-19 are susceptible to a diverse range of secondary infections, fungal being the most common. The increased risk is proposed to be due to the generous use of steroids for the treatment of COVID-19 infection and the presence of comorbidities, such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, preexisting lung diseases, and/or old age. Invasive mixed fungal disease is potentially life-threatening to the patients of COVID-19. In the present series of seven cases, the authors intend to discuss the clinicopathological profile and gamut of histopathological findings in invasive mixed fungal infection comprising of Mucor and Aspergillus in treated patients of COVID-19. Six patients had a clinical diagnosis of sinonasal–orbital invasive fungal disease, while there was a case of lung infection. The acquaintance and knowledge about histomorphology of invasive fungi and the multidisciplinary diagnostic approach not only will aid in early and accurate diagnosis but can guide the clinician for necessary surgical intervention and initiation of appropriate antifungal medications in patients of COVID-19.

Keywords

mixed fungal infection - Aspergillosis - Mucormycosis - COVID-19.


Publication History

Received: 22 January 2023

Accepted: 18 May 2023

Article published online:
23 June 2023

© 2023. The Indian Association of Laboratory Physicians. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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