Post COVID-19 mucormycosis in critical care settings: A prospective cohort study in a tertiary care center in Egypt

Abstract

Background: The emergence of mucormycosis as a life-threatening fungal infection after the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) is a major concern and challenge, but there is limited information on the risk factors for mortality in patients. Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study from May 2021 to April 2022 to determine the in-hospital outcomes of post-COVID-19 mucormycosis during the intensive care unit (ICU) stay. The sample of the study was collected as consecutive sampling using all accessible patients in the study period. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 25 (IBM, Chicago, Illinois, USA) was used for statistical analysis. Results: Among 150 patients with post-COVID-19 mucormycosis, the majority had a primary sinus infection (86.0 %), while 11.3 % had both sinus and ocular infections, and 2.7 % had sinus and cutaneous infections. Around 21 % (n = 31) of patients deceased after staying in the ICU for a median (range) of 45.0 (10.0–145.0) days. The majority of the patients who deceased had pneumonia patches on computed tomography (CT) (90.3 %) while none of the patients who were discharged had pneumonia patches (p 10 ×103 mcL) (hazard ratio (95 %CI): 10.03 (3.29–30.61)). Conclusions: Identifying high-risk patients especially old diabetic patients with corticosteroid administration and detecting their deterioration quickly is crucial in reducing post-COVID-19 mucormycosis mortality rates, and these factors must be considered when developing treatment and quarantine strategies.

Keywords

• COVID
• Mucormycosis
• Critical care
• Post-COVID
• Fungal infection
• Facial cutaneous mucormycosis