Covid ‘perfect storm’ as more patients hit by fungal infections

[Northerner]

Arash of cases of a rare “black fungus” infection affecting thousands of critically ill Covid patients in India caused alarm last month. Now scientists are warning that other dangerous or even deadly fungal infections have spawned in critically ill coronavirus patients globally, including in the UK.

Fungi are ubiquitous – in soil, water, air, faeces and human skin. Usually, people’s elaborate, adaptive immune systems are enough of a repellent but when that shield is weakened by disease, congenital conditions or age, they are far more vulnerable to microscopic assailants.

When Covid-19 emerged, doctors found that the best tools in their arsenal to fight the virus were steroids, which happen to be immunosuppressants. Wary of secondary bacterial infections in intensive care units, doctors often gave coronavirus patients broad-spectrum antibiotics as a precaution.

But the combination of lungs battered by Covid, impaired immune systems, and both good and bad bacteria wiped out by antibiotics left critically ill patients exposed to moulds and spores.

Covid ‘perfect storm’ as more patients hit by fungal infections

Weakened lungs and immune systems make people increasingly vulnerable, warn scientists

www.theguardian.com

 

[mikeyB]

That’s a theoretical risk. Anyone taking antibiotics and steroids is likely to develop a fungal infection, usually something like thrush or athletes foot. It’s also a risk for people with knackered immune systems, though it’s a slight risk at best. Our skin is a battlefield between bacteria and fungi, in perfect balance. They protect us by taking a time out to knock off any foreign agents looking to take up residence. It doesn’t take long for the residents of the skin to get back to normal, as your home environment reestablishes the population.

In this instance, you have to be in a pretty bad way to start with to pick up a fungal chest infection, with short odds on dying even without. It’s not a risk for folk who have endured Covid at home, for sure.

This is nothing more than project fear operating again - it’s not special to Covid. It’s a risk of being seriously ill in hospital.

 

[Northerner]

Always good to hear your insight @mikeyB 🙂