A Retrospective Cohort Study of Mucormycosis Infection in Patients with Previous History of COVID-19 in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Mucormycosis is an angioinvasive fungal infection mostly affecting patients with uncontrolled diabetes and immunocompromised status. It belongs to the order Mucorales , class Zygomycetes . It is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality among invasive fungal infections. India witnessed an epidemic of mucormycosis during COVID-19 period. Objective: This study analyses the demography, risk factors, clinical features, and adverse effects of treatment in patients with mucormycosis admitted to our hospital during the pandemic. Materials and Methods: It is a retrospective cohort study carried out in a tertiary care hospital from May 2021 to November 2021. The cases of mucormycosis were identified based on either single positive test for fungal stain, fungal culture, or histopathology. Results: A total of 22 patients were included in this study. The mean age of the patients was 55.79 years (range 26–86), with 90.90% being males. Majority (68.18%) were diabetics. Of these, seven patients had diabetes for more than 10 years. All patients were previously diagnosed with COVID-19 before admitting to hospital and 66.67% received steroids previously. Magnetic resonance imaging showed sinus involvement in all patients (100%), soft tissue (90.90%), and orbital involvement (72.72%). Aseptate hyphae were seen in fungal stain (54.54%), histopathology (59.10%), and Rhizopus grown in fungal culture (31.81%) of the cases. A combination of surgical debridement and medical treatment with antifungal therapy was given. Conclusions: Mucormycosis is a life-threatening disease for post-COVID-19 patients with high rate of morbidity as well as mortality. Uncontrolled diabetes and previous use of steroids were additional risk factors for the development of mucormycosis among post-COVID patients.