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).
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10238-021-00751-7.
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