Relevance of Conventional Microscopy in the Diagnosis of Mucormycosis during COVID-19 Pandemic

INTRODUCTION: Mucormycosis is a lethal disease which bewildered the health-care community of India during the ongoing second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The diagnosis is challenging considering the poor isolation in culture. AIMS: The aim of the study was to emphasize the utility of potassium hydroxide (KOH) mount examination using conventional light microscopy for early diagnosis of mucormycosis in resource-limited settings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of results for all the samples including tissue biopsies, swabs, and pus received in the laboratory for KOH microscopy was done, and results were recorded. The clinical and demographic details of the patients were collected from the hospital information system. RESULTS: A total of 75 samples from 50 patients were received in the laboratory. Out of these, 43 samples from 35 patients showed fungal hyphae (38 patients with only nonseptate hyaline hyphae, 2 with septate hyaline hyphae, and 3 samples with mixed infections). All patients except one were positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. The most common age group was 45–59 years (40%), followed by 30–44 years (34.28%) with a male predominance. There was a significant difference in hemoglobin A1C (P = 0.005) and ferritin (P = 0.017) levels between laboratory-confirmed mucormycosis patients and clinically suspected mucormycosis patients without confirmation. CONCLUSION: Early diagnosis and initiation of targeted therapy is the cornerstone for treating mucormycosis patients. Hence, a rapid and reliable mode of diagnosis is the need of the hour. Conventional microscopy is such a tool that may be used, especially in resource-limited settings.