Opportunistic mycoses in COVID-19 patients/survivors: Epidemic inside a pandemic

Abstract

Being considered minor vexations, fungal infections hinder the life of about 15% of the world population superficially, with rare threats to life in case of invasive sepsis. A significant rise in the intrusive mycoses due to machiavellian fungal species is observed over the years due to increased pathology and fatality in people battling life-threatening diseases. Individuals undergoing therapy with immune suppressive drugs plus recovering from viral infections have shown to develop fungal sepsis as secondary infections while recovering or after. Currently, the whole world is fighting against the fright of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and corticosteroids being the primitive therapeutic to combat the COVID-19 inflammation, leads to an immune-compromised state, thereby allowing the not so harmful fungi to violate the immune barrier and flourish in the host. A wide range of fungal co-infection is observed in the survivors and patients of COVID-19. Fungal species of Candida, Aspergillus and Mucorales, are burdening the lives of COVID-19 patients/survivors in the form of Yellow/Green, White and Black fungus. This is the first article of its kind to assemble note on fungal infections seen in the current human health scenario till date and provides a strong message to the clinicians, researchers and physicians around the world “non-pathological fungus should not be dismissed as contaminants, they can quell immunocompromised hosts”.

Keywords

• Intrusive fungus
• Immunosuppressed
• Sepsis
• Corticosteroids
• COVID-19