◎ Cai Jingsilin Chen Ke
According to China News Network, India Today reported that health officials in Maharashtra and Gujarat, India, said on the 8th that the situation of new crown survivors infected with mucormycosis showed an upward trend. The germ attacks the patient's fragile immune system and proves to be a deadly fungus.
Hearing the word "mucormycete", the first reaction of some people is that when making tofu milk, the mold that grows on the tofu is actually not the other "mucormycete". So what exactly is Mucormycetes? What is mucormycosis? What's so scary about this disease? A few days ago, relevant experts made an interpretation.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="9" > the "true face" of the deadly fungus</h1>
To know what mucormycosis is, first understand the "true face" of the deadly fungus.
Mucormycetes belongs to the genus Mucormycetes, a class of fungi of the subphylum of zygocytes, representative species such as Muzzle slug, Mullus vulgaris, Mullus tall, Filamentous Muzzarella, Muliella Lui and so on. Among them, Muzzle curd, mucormycetes, etc. are the more commonly used mucormycete species in The saprophyllum, which is used in the food field.
"This fungus is a saprophytic fungus, widely distributed in nature, generally has a strong ability to break down proteins, often causing food mold. There is also a class of conditional pathogenic fungi in the fungal 'team', which can cause human pathogenesis when the body's immunity is low and extremely weak. Liu Shukun, director of the Department of Hygiene Toxicology at the School of Public Health of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said that the "mucormycete" usually referred to refers to a large class of fungi, and not all of the mucormycetes are pathogenic bacteria.
So, which mucormycetes cause disease? In fact, the main pathogenic species of Mucormyces is Filaria monichia. This type of mucormyces can invade the walls of blood vessels, causing thrombosis and tissue necrosis. It is more secondary to diabetes mellitus or other chronic wasting diseases, and the onset is urgent, and in severe cases, it can be fatal.
Liu Shukun said that according to the clinical manifestations, it can be divided into cerebral mucormycosis, lung mucormycosis and gastrointestinal mucormycosis. Among them, cerebral mucormycosis is mainly mucormycosis from the nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses along the small blood vessels to the brain, causing thrombosis and necrosis; pulmonary mucormycosis is mainly manifested as bronchopneumonia, but also pulmonary infarction and thrombosis; gastrointestinal mucormycosis is more common in the terminal of the ileum, the cecum and colon, the esophagus and stomach can also be involved.
It can be said that mucormyces are ubiquitous in the environment of soil, feces, grass and air, and some of them are "friendly teams" and some are "hostile forces" of human beings. And this part of the "hostile forces" do not appear often, they mainly infect some immune deficiencies in the human body.
"Mucormycetes grow well under conditions of high temperature, high humidity and poor ventilation, and once the human body is infected, the onset of the disease is urgent, the disease progresses quickly, the diagnosis is difficult, and the mortality rate is also high." Liu Shukun said that only when the human immunity is low, the mucormycetes will take the opportunity to "sneak in" through the nasal cavity and respiratory tract, which can invade the maxillary sinuses and orbits, causing necrotizing inflammation and granulomas; it can also invade the brain through blood flow, causing meningitis; it can also spread to the lungs, gastrointestinal tract and so on.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="9" > "killer" hiding behind the new crown virus</h1>
According to Indian media sources, at least 8 people in The Surat region of Gujarat have lost sight due to infection with the fungus after recovering from the new crown pneumonia. According to Tatararaao, at least 200 people in Maharashtra are infected with mucormycosis, of which 8 survived infection with the new crown virus but died after contracting mucormycetes.
Why did this group of people just survive the infection with the new crown virus, but they were targeted by mucormycetes?
Image source: Visual China
"After being infected with the new crown virus, the human immune system is more heavily affected, which is equivalent to a state of low immunity. Clinically, it can be seen that leukopenia, lymphocytes are reduced, immunity is reduced, and it is very easy to have bacterial and fungal infections. After the human body is infected with one pathogen, it is infected by another pathogen, which is medically called overlapping infection. Liu Shukun introduced.
It is understood that overlapping infection is relatively common in medicine, such as after chronic hepatitis B virus infection, overlapping infection with hepatitis D virus. "The consequences of overlapping infections are that it is easy to make the body become seriously ill, resulting in serious consequences such as death, so even if you recover after infection with the new crown virus, you must pay attention to protect yourself, especially not to take it lightly when your immunity is not fully restored, and strictly prevent overlapping infections of other pathogens, including mucormycetes." She said.
At present, the treatment after infection with Mucormyces is antifungal therapy, the specific time of treatment is unknown, generally a few weeks to several months, during which if the patient's immunocompromised status is improved, immunosuppressive status gradually reduces or stops, treatment can be continued until the symptoms and signs disappear. In addition, in addition to systematic antifungal therapy, complete surgical treatment of mucormycosis can be performed as early as possible.
"In daily life, people should pay attention to regular exercise, diet, relieve psychological pressure, and stay up late without being cold." The elderly listen to the doctor's instructions to control blood pressure and blood sugar, go to the community health center regularly for review, and children should cultivate good hygiene habits and eating habits. These lifestyles are optimized to prevent not only mucormycete infections, but also most other microbes. Liu Shukun said.
Editor: Zhang Qiqi
Review: Wang Xiaolong