Complication of Intrapulmonary Cavitary Lesions after COVID-19 Finally Proved as Pulmonary Aspergillosis.

BACKGROUND

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2, which is characterized by high infectiousness and diverse clinical manifestations. They are more likely to become critical in people who have underlying diseases or are immunocompromised. In the daunting task of treating patients with COVID-19, those with comorbid fungal infections are susceptible to underdiagnosis or misdiagnosis, which can ultimately lead to increased morbidity and mortality in this group of patients. We report a case of intrapulmonary cavitary lesions after COVID-19, which was eventually diagnosed as pulmonary aspergillosis (PA) by metagenomic Next Generation Sequencing (mNGS) to improve our understanding of the disease.

METHODS

Appropriate laboratory tests, chest computed tomography (CT), mNGS, and serologic tests were performed for diagnosis.

RESULTS

Laboratory tests showed Glactomannan (GM) of 1.41, multiple cavitary lesions in both lungs on chest CT and the presence of aspergillus infection was confirmed by sputum sent for mNGS.

CONCLUSIONS

In the case of cavitary lesions after COVID-19, we should be alert to the possibility of combined fungi and should promptly perform mNGS to clarify whether there is a combination of specific pathogenic fungal infections.