Specialists of the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor conducted research and spoke about the growth of mycoses, which are increasingly recorded during a pandemic in intensive care units.
Among fungal infections, Candida albicans is the most frequently recorded – yeast-like fungi, representatives of the intestinal flora, which are usually present in the mouth and esophagus in about 80% of people and do not cause problems. An increase in their number can cause thrush (candidiasis) – the disease affects the genitals and blood. Most often it is observed with immunodeficiency. In COVID-19, the lungs are targeted by fungi.
In an interview the Izvestia edition Elena Lazareva, Leading Researcher of the Clinical Department of Infectious Pathology, Central Research Institute of Epidemiology, Rospotrebnadzor, tells about the peculiarities of mycoses in coronavirus:
Candida albicans was detected in 572 people in GBUZ MO Moscow City Clinical Hospital, and in GBUZ IKB No. 2 – in 45 people, and in autopsy material of the lungs (autopsy materials of the deceased), when in 2020 almost no fungal flora was sown. The rise of fungal flora in ICU departments can be due to both the pathogenetic features of COVID-19 and the widespread use of glucocorticosteroids (namely methylprednisolone, a strong synthetic drug used to combat the severe form of COVID-19).
But medication isn’t the only thing that contributes to the seeding of the lungs with fungus, says the scientist. The pron-position is also important – the position of the patient lying on his stomach, recommended for patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome. The results of a study by experts from the Central Research Institute helped to establish that a feature of candidiasis with covid is a combination of fungal infection of the lungs with infection with a conditionally pathogenic intestinal flora – Enterobacter.
Earlier, our publication talked about the distribution in India “black mold”, a complication that provokes a fungal infection. It enters the body through damage to the skin – a burn, cut, scratch. Often, infection occurs from contact with the spores of the fungus. The infection is especially dangerous for diabetics and people with weak immune systems.
Fungal disease is detected in patients with coronavirus. The first was black mold, against the background of its spread, white mold appeared, then yellow. A new and apparently the only case of green mold so far was reported by the Hindustan Times, citing information from the Madhya Pradesh Department of Health.
This May, amid a pandemic, cases have been identified in Russia infection with “black mold” – a killer fungus. Cases of mucormycosis, as then reported, are still isolated. As for the disease in Russia, Izvestia wrote, experts reassure: it is very likely that cases of infection with the killer fungus will remain isolated. So thought, for example, Nikolai Klimko, head of the Department of Clinical Mycology, Allergology and Immunology, Northwestern State Medical University. I. I. Mechnikov. In India, the situation is aggravated by the fact that a huge number of people in the country have poorly controlled diabetes. However, Russian diabetics, the scientist warned, cannot completely exclude the possibility of a fungal infection.
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