Rare White Fungus Detected in Brain of Recovered COVID-19 Patients in India

With COVID-19 cases gradually decreasing in India, the country is now contending with an array of fungal diseases. In the past two months, it has reported several cases of black, white and yellow fungus.

Several cases of aspergillosis in the brain of people who have recovered from COVID-19 have been found in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad. Yashoda Hospitals confirmed to Sputnik, on Friday, that it has diagnosed at least four cases of Aspergillosis and Sunshine Hospitals reported the presence of aspergillus, the mold that causes aspergillosis.

“Fungal infections have increased many times during the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes cases of both mucormycosis (black fungus) and cases of aspergillosis,” Dr Monalisa Sahu, the infectious diseases consultant at Yashoda Hospitals told Sputnik.

Aspergillosis is an infection that targets the lungs and is caused by a common mold fungus that lives both indoors and outdoors. Most people breathe in aspergillus spores without getting sick. However, infection most commonly develops in individuals with a weakened immune system after they inhale the spores.

The most common organs where fungi developed include the paranasal sinuses, the eyes, lungs, the gastrointestinal tract, and the brain, Dr Sahu explained.

“These fungi have a propensity to cause brain abscesses which is a severe form of the disease. It begins when the fungi migrate to the brain from the adjoining sites or are disseminated via the blood vessels. It forms within a few weeks if appropriate antifungals for the adequate duration are not administered at the right time,” Dr Sahu added.

Yashoda confirmed that all four cases had been treated successfully although it refused to share the patients' details.

Sunshine Hospitals Case

Dr P Ranganadham, senior consultant neurosurgeon at Sunshine Hospitals, told Indian media that the patient had developed weakness in the limbs and difficulties with speech after recovering from COVID-19 in May.

“A scan of the brain revealed clot-like formations that did not diminish even after taking medication. It was only after surgery that doctors found that white fungus had formed an abscess in the patient’s brain,” Dr Ranganadham told Indian daily newspaper Times Of India.

Earlier, in July, Federal Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said India has reported 45,374 cases of this rare and dangerous infection, mucormycosis or black fungus, and about 4,300 people have died so far because of it. The two worst-affected states are Maharashtra and Gujarat, where 1,785 people have died from mucormycosis.

However, the government has not shared the data related to aspergillosis so far.