No abstract

Introduction: Zygomycetes consisting of Mucorales order is a group of fungal infections. These species cause life threatening opportunistic fungal infections mucormycosis. This infection is highly prevalent in immunocompromised. During the 2nd wave of Covid 19 pandemic corticosteroid treatment was used which has been linked to development of Mucormycosis. In our tertiary care teaching hospital we saw that patients suffering from Covid-19 infections developed mucormycosis. We present these cases in our study. To study the clinical, demographical, and Laboratory parameters in Covid-19 patients with Mucormycosis. Material and Methods: Retrospective Study. All biopsy proven cases of Mucormycosis (which developed after Covid-19 infection) were included. Relevant Clinical Demographics and Laboratory data was retrieved from the available case sheets. The data was tabulated in Excel sheet and further reviewed. Results: A total of 22 patients were diagnosed as suffering from mucormycosis majority were unvaccinated. 11 patients out of 22 (50%) started manifesting mucormycosis within one week of COVID infection. All the patients who had only single comorbidity (22.72%) suffered from mild disease and patient who had more than one comorbidity suffered from moderate (27.27%) to severe (50%) COVID infection. Conclusion: It is suggested that patients with Covid-19 infection are at risk for development of opportunistic fungal infections like Mucormycosis. Hence the physicians who are involved in treating such patients must be mindful of the fact that mucormycosis can develop in them. Histopathology helps in establishing a concrete diagnosis of Mucormycosis.

Introduction: COVID-19 infection has been affecting vast population all over the world since 2019. It is very important to make optimum use of routine laboratory parameters in evaluating severity of COVID-19 disease. This will help the clinicians to improve allocation of technical human resources to patients who require it the most. During the path of the COVID-19 disease, inflammatory indices such as lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), biomarkers like serum procalcitonin (PCT), and ferritin and indices of coagulation profile like D-Dimer, PT levels, and hematological parameters like total leukocyte count, platelets carry prognostic value. The objective of the study is to estimate the utility of various laboratory Biochemical and Hematological parameters in COVID-19 disease. Materials and Methods: The present study is a retrospective cross-sectional observational study conducted in tertiary care rural teaching hospital. The study was conducted from September 1, 2020, to January 31, 2021. The study was carried out on the patients who were hospitalized in Isolation Ward and COVID ICU in our L3 COVID hospital. All patients with positive SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test results were included in the study. A sample size of 310 patients was taken. The basic demographic details were collected from the admission records. The confirmatory test for SARS-CoV-2 was done using the WHO-approved kits based on real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction for which suspected cases underwent nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal swab testing. The levels of CRP, IL-6, PCT, ferritin LDH, D-dimer, complete blood counts, PT were based on standardized methods obtained using various biochemical and hematological laboratory analyzers. Data of investigation reports were gathered from electronic patient record system. Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences for Windows (version 25.0). Results: Our study clearly shows that levels of IL-6, D Dimer, PT, and LDH are quite significantly raised in majority of patients while PCT and ferritin being somewhat nonspecific show an increase but not to that significant numbers. The hematological parameters show levels which indicate mild anemia, leukocytosis, neutrophilia, lymphopenia, and thrombocytopenia in patients infected with COVID-19 disease. Conclusion: COVID-19 is an unexplored, new entity with a sudden worldwide onset. The medical fraternity is yet to conquer and analyse this novel virus.