Most often, pneumonia caused by mycosis occurs against the background of a decrease in immunity and the intake of drugs prescribed for severe COVID-19 – dexamethasone, tocilizumab and others.
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The fungus was found in patients who were in the ICU, according to the published by scientists article… Paradoxically, the activation of antiviral immunity may contribute to the development of a form of inflammation that promotes fungal pathogenesis.
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The severe form of the disease leads to damage to the pulmonary epithelium, which can be a predisposing risk factor for pulmonary aspergillosis, a disease caused by fungi of the genus Aspergillus.
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In 60 of 257 COVID-19 patients (23.3%), throat swab samples tested positive for Aspergillus, that is, they had a coinfection, the article said, citing a study conducted in Jiangsu province in China. In other works, the number of patients on mechanical ventilation infected with Aspergillus is in the region of 20%.
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The fungus increases the mortality rate of patients in the ICU by 16-25%, Nikolai Klimko, head of the Department of Clinical Mycology, Allergology and Immunology of the Mechnikov North-Western State Medical University, told Izvestia in the framework of the XXIII Kashkinsky Readings.
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Often, a fungal infection is in addition to a bacterial one: first, a person develops bacterial complications, which are treated with antibiotics, and then invasive mycoses join, Professor of the Department of Hospital Therapy at Sechenov University, President of the Alliance of Clinical Chemotherapists and Microbiologists of Russia Sergey Yakovlev told Izvestia.
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“This has already become a known problem for emergency hospitals,” the expert added.
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According to him, during the global swine flu epidemic, it was also proved that in severe patients with a viral infection, the risk of secondary infection with invasive mycoses increases.
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The main danger of fungal pneumonia is that it is more difficult to detect than viral or bacterial, experts warn. International mycological organizations have prepared a manual for doctors in covid hospitals, which describes the basic principles of diagnosing a deadly fungus. These guidelines are accepted for publication in a medical journal. The Lancet.
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