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A Short Review on Mucormycosis and its Risk in COVID-19 Patients

Sourav Guha, Deepika Pardhe*

A life-threatening fungal infection known as mucormycosis occurs in immune compromised patients like patients having diabetic ketoacidosis, neutropenia, organ transplantation, increased serum levels of available iron etc. Mucormycosis is an emerging fungal infection worldwide, with devastating disease symptoms and diverse clinical manifestations. The most important underlying risk factors are immunosuppression, poorly controlled diabetes, iron overload and major trauma. The aetiological agents involved in the disease have been re-classified due to changes in taxonomy and nomenclature, which also led to appropriately naming the disease ‘mucormycosis’. This article shortly explains the new nomenclature, clinical manifestations and risk factors and focuses on putative virulence traits associated with mucormycosis, mainly in the group of diabetic ketoacidosis patients.

A wide range of bacterial and fungal infection is seen in the patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The use of steroids, monoclonal antibodies, broad-spectrum antibiotics may lead to the development of a preexisting fungal disease. Investigating pathogenesis and host response to invading hyphae of mucormycosis eventually will provide targets for novel therapeutic interventions. Physicians should be aware of the risk of resulting invasive fungal infections in patients with COVID-19 infection and diagnose the infections in such patients at earlier. The global mortality rate is high regardless of aggressive therapy, which consist of disfiguring surgical debridement and adjunctive toxic antifungal therapy.

Newer attempts to prevent and treat mucormycosis are crucial. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been sweeping across the globe.