Journal of Tropical Diseases & Public Health

Abstract

Mucormycosis and SARS-CoV-2 Infection- A Diagnostic and Management Challenge in Low Resource Settings

Anneth Marandu, Alex Mremi*, Tumaini Mirai, Gilbert Nkya, Patrick Amsi, Crispin Moshi, Sarah Urasa, Hilary Chipongo and Kajiru Kilonzo

Mucormycosis is currently termed as one of the mortal angioinvasive fungal diseases in the world, affecting those with diabetes mellitus, especially in acidotic states. With the current Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, there has been a surge of mucormycosis cases being documented from Asian countries and a few from Sub-Saharan Africa. Herein, we present two cases of mucormycosis from Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, both with history of uncontrolled Diabetes mellitus type-1. One patient was confirmed to have Coronavirus disease-19 by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). These are the first known documented cases of mucormycosis from Tanzania during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We also have narrated on the challenges in diagnosis and management of patients with mucormycosis in our setting.

Published Date: 2021-09-27; Received Date: 2021-08-27