19-10-21 Daily-Punjab-PPSC Current Affairs

A sudden surge in the cases of mucormycosis during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic was probably due to a compromise in immunity, along with thrombotic microangiopathy among the infected patients, according to a latest Punjab-based study published in European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology.

Thrombotic microangiopathies refer to the destruction of red blood cells, low platelets and organ damage due to the formation of blood clots arteries.

With an aim to evaluate the disease presentation, patterns of spread, and its association with the Covid-19 virus, the study was conducted on patients undergoing surgery for invasive fungal at a tertiary care centre in Punjab, between March and July this year. Out of 34 patients, who underwent surgery for invasive fungal sinusitis, an inflammation of the sinuses, 31 21 men and 10 Women were diagnosed with mucormycosis. All the patients were either tested positive for Covid on presentation or had contracted the infection in the prior months. Some of them had radiological evidence of past infection with the virus.