Dangerous fungal infection plague for corona patients in ICU

Corona patients who end up in intensive care run the risk of a fungal infection killing them. The VRT reports that about 15 percent of all ICU patients develop aspergillosis, an infection caused by the ubiquitous fungus Aspergillus.

The dangerous fungal infection can be fatal. “We see that aspergillosis increases the risk of death in covid patients,” explains professor Katrien Lagrou, who specializes in life-threatening fungal diseases.

Aspergillosis is a well-known phenomenon in people with weakened immune systems. Several years ago, researchers discovered that aspergillosis regularly occurs in people who end up in hospital with influenza (flu).

Now it appears that the fungal infection also occurs in corona patients, Lagrou advises doctors to test patients. The sooner the infection is treated, the better the patient’s chances. This treatment is complicated, however, because some Aspergillus strains are resistant to the most commonly used drug.

In the Netherlands, the resistant Aspergillus strains are most common at industrial composting companies, wood processing companies and places where waste from tulip bulbs is collected.

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