The linkage between the second wave of COVID-19 and the severity of mucormycosis in India

ABSTRACT

The whole world was fighting the danger of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) since 2019. The SARS-CoV-2 virus was mutating with great speed, and putting new challenges in front of the world. In India, the whole healthcare system was engaged in tackling the second wave of COVID-19 as a result of virus mutation. Additionally, a fungal co-infection, mucormycosis started to invade the COVID-19 patients. Mucormycosis is an acute infection, caused by an opportunistic fungus, mostly attacks the immunosuppressed, diabetic, and neutropenia patients. The other causes of infection include inappropriate use of immunosuppressive drugs, entry of Mucorales through open wounds, cancer, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, organ transplant, and malnutrition. In the recent mucormycosis outbreak in India, all the mucormycosis cases included eyesight damage, facial deformities, and even death in critical conditions. These reported mucormycosis cases in India were mostly diabetes, which were treated with immunosuppressive drugs. The mucormycosis fungus was probably invading the recovered, or near to recovery the second wave COVID-19 patients. In this review, we discussed the important risk factors responsible for the sudden outbreak of mucormycosis, and its severity linked to second wave COVID-19 patients in India.