Now, fungal infection damaging spine of COVID-recovered patient - All you need to know

After Black Fungus (known as mucormycosis) threatened COVID-19 recovered patients' lives in India, now there are reports of a new post-COVID symptom among recovered people. A fungal infection is being reported in COVID-recovered patients from Maharashtra's Pune and it damages spinal-discs spaces of the person, leading 
to severe bone damage. 

The infection was first reported in a 66-year-old patient who had complained of mild fever and severe lower back pain, after a month of recovering from COVID-19. The patient was initially given muscle relaxants and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that did not bring any relief. 

After an MRI scan, it was reported that the patient had a fungal infection that resulted in severe bone damage to the spinal-discs spaces called spondylodiscitis. 

The fungal infection, medically termed as aspergillus osteomyelitis, is difficult to diagnose as it is like spinal tuberculosis (TB) and it has been reported in the mouth cavities of COVID-recovered patients, and rarely in lungs too.

In three months, the fungal infection has been reported in four COVID-recovered patients in Pune, Mangeshkar hospital infectious diseases expert Parikshit Prayag told a newspaper.

According to the report, the four patients were treated with steroids to recover from COVID-19 while Mangeshkar said that the long-term use of corticosteroids can also increase the risk of the infection, on the basis of treatment and drugs used.