Fungal co-infection in COVID-19 patients: Should we be concerned?
Rev Iberoam Micol
; 37(2): 41-46, 2020.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-756851
ABSTRACT
Critically ill COVID-19 patients have higher pro-inflammatory (IL-1, IL-2, IL-6, tumor necrosis alpha) and anti-inflammatory (IL-4, IL-10) cytokine levels, less CD4 interferon-gamma expression, and fewer CD4 and CD8 cells. This severe clinical situation increases the risk of serious fungal infections, such as invasive pulmonary aspergillosis, invasive candidiasis or Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia. However, few studies have investigated fungal coinfections in this population. We describe an update on published reports on fungal coinfections and our personal experience in three Spanish hospitals. We can conclude that despite the serious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 in many patients, the scarcity of invasive mycoses is probably due to the few bronchoscopies and necropsies performed in these patients because of the high risk in aerosol generation. However, the presence of fungal markers in clinically relevant specimens, with the exception of bronchopulmonary colonization by Candida, should make it advisable to early implement antifungal therapy.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Pneumocystis
/
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis
/
Candidiasis, Invasive
/
Coinfection
/
Betacoronavirus
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
English
Journal:
Rev Iberoam Micol
Journal subject:
Microbiology
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS