Another fungal infection has been identified in four people who recovered from COVID-19 in Pune over the last three months. 

A 66-year-old patient complained of mild fever and severe lower back pain, one month after recovering from COVID. Initially, he received conservative treatment with muscle relaxants and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, but without any relief.

A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan was done which showed spondylodiscitis caused by severe infection. A bone biopsy and culture showed growth of aspergillus species. Known as aspergillus osteomyelitis, this invasive fungal infection is hard to diagnose as it resembles spinal tuberculosis. Such an infection has been found in mouth cavities of people who recovered from COVID-19, and in rare circumstances, has been detected in lungs. 

Parikshit Prayag, an infectious diseases expert at Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, said that they have diagnosed vertebral osteomyelitis due to aspergillus species in four patients in three months. Before this, aspergillus vertebral osteomyelitis had not been reported in COVID-recovered patients in the country.

The common feature in the four patients was that they all had severe COVID-19 and had to be treated with steroids to tackle COVID pneumonia and associated complications. He mentioned that long-term use of steroids may heighten the likelihood of opportunistic infections, depending on the underlying disease and other drugs that are being administered to the patient.

Source: ET Healthworld