COVID-19 associated mucormycosis: the urgent need to reconsider the indiscriminate use of immunosuppressive drugs

Abstract

Invasive mycoses represent opportunistic infections occurring predominantly among highly immunosuppressed individuals, including those with advanced human immunodeficiency virus-associated immunosuppression, uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, drug-induced immunosuppression during transplantation, autoimmune disorders, or hematological malignancies. The overuse of high-dose glucocorticoids and the administration of highly immunosuppressive drugs such as inhibitors of the Janus kinase inhibitors or IL-6 receptor inhibitors to treat patients with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are responsible in part for the increasing number of life-threatening opportunistic infections identified in this patient population...