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LETTER TO THE EDITOR |
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Year : 2020 | Volume
: 8
| Issue : 4 | Page : 218 |
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A case report of pulmonary mucormycosis
Mahmood Dhahir Al-Mendalawi
Department of Paediatrics, Al-Kindy College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq
Date of Submission | 18-Jul-2020 |
Date of Decision | 30-Sep-2020 |
Date of Acceptance | 07-Oct-2020 |
Date of Web Publication | 23-Oct-2020 |
Correspondence Address: Prof. Mahmood Dhahir Al-Mendalawi Department of Paediatrics, Al-Kindy College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, P.O. Box 55302, Baghdad Post Office, Baghdad Iraq
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None
DOI: 10.4103/ajim.ajim_52_20
How to cite this article: Al-Mendalawi MD. A case report of pulmonary mucormycosis. APIK J Int Med 2020;8:218 |
Sir,
In July–September 2020 issue of the APIK Journal of Internal Medicine , Taur et al. [1] published a case of pulmonary mucormycosis (PM) in an Indian patient. As mucormycosis is a rare opportunistic mycotic infection, often occurs in individuals with low immunity, and imposes significant morbidity and mortality,[2] I wonder why Taur et al. [1] did not consider immunocompromised status in the studied patient, particularly infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Truly, PM has been reported in HIV-infected patients.[3],[4] India is currently challenging HIV epidemic. The available data pointed to the national adult prevalence of 0.22% (0.16%–0.30%) in 2017.[5] The employed diagnostic panel in the studied patient did not regrettably recruit HIV testing. I assume that the diagnostic set of fourth-generation assay for P24 antigen and antibodies, as well as measuring viral overload and CD4 lymphocyte count, would have to be taken into consideration. If that set was to address HIV seropositivity, the case in question could be really regarded as a novel case report of HIV-associated PM in the Indian literature.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
References | |  |
1. | Taur SR, Harsoor S, Goudagaon C. A case report of pulmonary mucormycosis. APIK J Int Med 2020;8:136-8. [Full text] |
2. | Moreira J, Varon A, Galhardo MC, Santos F, Lyra M, Castro R, et al . The burden of mucormycosis in HIV-infected patients: A systematic review. J Infect 2016;73:181-8. |
3. | Harloff KJ, Stoehr A, Wasmuth R, Plettenberg A, Harten J. Pulmonary mucormycosis in an HIV-infected patient. Dtsch Med Wochenschr 1995;120:94-8. |
4. | Kutlu M, Ergin C, Bir F, Hilmioǧlu-Polat S, Gümral R, Necan C, et al . Pulmonary mucormycosis due to Lichtheimia ramosa in a patient with HIV infection. Mycopathologia 2014;178:111-5. |
5. | Government of India, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, National AIDS Control Organisation. HIV Facts & Figures. Available from: http://naco.gov.in/hiv-facts-figures. [Last accessed on 2020 Jul 17]. |
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