Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Aug;22(3):327-346.
doi: 10.1007/s10238-021-00751-7. Epub 2021 Aug 23.

COVID-19-associated opportunistic infections: a snapshot on the current reports

Amir Abdoli  1   2 , Shahab Falahi  3 , Azra Kenarkoohi  4
Affiliations
Review

COVID-19-associated opportunistic infections: a snapshot on the current reports

Amir Abdoli et al. Clin Exp Med. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Treatment of the novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains a complicated challenge, especially among patients with severe disease. In recent studies, immunosuppressive therapy has shown promising results for control of the cytokine storm syndrome (CSS) in severe cases of COVID-19. However, it is well documented that immunosuppressive agents (e.g., corticosteroids and cytokine blockers) increase the risk of opportunistic infections. On the other hand, several opportunistic infections were reported in COVID-19 patients, including Aspergillus spp., Candida spp., Cryptococcus neoformans, Pneumocystis jiroveci (carinii), mucormycosis, Cytomegalovirus (CMV), Herpes simplex virus (HSV), Strongyloides stercoralis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and Toxoplasma gondii. This review is a snapshot about the main opportunistic infections that reported among COVID-19 patients. As such, we summarized information about the main immunosuppressive agents that were used in recent clinical trials for COVID-19 patients and the risk of opportunistic infections following these treatments. We also discussed about the main challenges regarding diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19-associated opportunistic infections (CAOIs).

Keywords: Aspergillosis; COVID-19; Candidiasis; Cryptococcosis; Cytokine storm syndrome; Cytomegalovirus; Helminth infections; Herpes simplex virus; Immunosuppressive therapy; Mucormycosis; Opportunistic infection; Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia; SARS-CoV-2; Strongyloidiasis; Toxoplasmosis; Tuberculosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
A snapshot on the CAOIs. Created by https://www.canva.com/
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Zhu N, Zhang D, Wang W, Li X, Yang B, Song J, et al. A novel coronavirus from patients with pneumonia in China, 2019. N Engl J Med. 2020;382:727–733. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2001017. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zhou F, Yu T, Du R, Fan G, Liu Y, Liu Z, et al. Clinical course and risk factors for mortality of adult inpatients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: a retrospective cohort study. The Lancet. 2020;395(10229):1054–1062. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30566-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Falahi S, Kenarkoohi A. Sex and gender differences in the outcome of patients with COVID-19. J Med Virol. 2021;93(1):151–152. doi: 10.1002/jmv.26243. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Falahi S, Abdoli A, Kenarkoohi A. Claims and reasons about mild COVID- 19 infection in children. New Microbes New Infect. 2021 doi: 10.1016/j.nmni.2021.100864. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Shams M, Basati G, Kalvandi G, Abdoli A, Tavan H. Frequency of underlying diseases, symptoms and mortality rate of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Reviews in Medical Microbiology. 9000. 10.1097/MRM.0000000000000262.

MeSH terms

Substances