Archana Keche1, Nitin M Nagarkar2, Swati Salila3*, Ripu Daman Arora4, Rupa Mehta4 and Richa Tigga3
1Additional Professor, Department of Microbiology, AIIMS, Raipur, India
2Professor and Head, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Director and CEO, AIIMS, Raipur, India
3Senior Resident, Department of Microbiology, AIIMS, Raipur, India
4Additional Professor, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, AIIMS, Raipur, India
*Corresponding Author: Swati Salila, Senior Resident, Department of Microbiology, AIIMS, Raipur, India.
Received: November 02, 2021; Published: January 20, 2022
Mucormycosis is a life-threatening, opportunistic infection, caused by a group of saprophytic fungi belonging to taxonomical Order Mucorales. Severe COVID-19 disease is associated with an increase in pro-inflammatory markers, this, increases the susceptibility to various infections. One such opportunistic fungal infection involved is mucormycosis, an angio-invasive disease which is often linked to the use of high dose steroid therapy for longer duration. In this study samples were taken from post COVID-19 patients suspected of mucormycosis, requested for direct KOH microscopy and fungal culture. A total of 699 samples were processed (including repeat samples) received from 361 post COVID-19 patients. Out of the 361 patients screened by KOH/Calcoflour white preparation, 101(27.9%) came to be positive after first time sampling. On repeat sampling, 36 patients (9.97%%) were additionally picked as positive. A total of 137 patients were positive on screening by KOH. Hence, the positivity rate was increased from 27.9% to 37.87% on multiple and appropriate sampling. Diagnosis of Mucormycosis remains a challenging task. Multiple sampling of the accessible site of infected area can be a key to early diagnosis of CAM in emergency. The mortality as well as morbidity can be reduced by prompt diagnosis and treatment initiation.
Keywords: COVID Associated Mucormycosis (CAM); Multiple Sampling; Early Diagnosis
Citation: Swati Salila., et al. “Multiple and Appropriate Sampling Proved as Key for Early Diagnosis of COVID Associated Mucormycosis".Acta Scientific Otolaryngology 4.2 (2022): 02-07.
Copyright: © 2022 Swati Salila., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.