Critical COVID-19-associated pulmonary mucormycosis: The underreported life-threatening spectrum of the mucormycosis epidemic

The explosive rise in angioinvasive mucormycosis (MM) in India and other parts of the world has been described as the “epidemic following the COVID-19 pandemic,” with the majority being rhino-orbital-cerebral MM. We report a case series of five COVID-19-associated pulmonary MM (CAPM) with an aggressive clinical course. Clinical and radiological clues were limited, and the initial suspicion of CAPM was the morphological appearance on bronchoscopy, which led to the diagnosis. Histopathology was consistently positive in all cases, while other microbiological and molecular tests had varying sensitivity. Most patients had a fulminant and fatal course. Also noted was dual fungal infection in 3/5 cases with coexisting multidrug resistant bacterial infection in all cases. CAPM is the hidden part of the COVID-MM epidemic and warrants a high degree of suspicion with early diagnosis and treatment.