Is there an interest in systematic serum screening for aspergillosis in COVID-19 patients in a medical ward?

PURPOSE: We evaluated the interest of systematic screening of serum fungal markers in patients hospitalized in a medical ward.

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed all patients hospitalized in our infectious disease department from October 1st to October 31st, 2020 for COVID-19 without prior ICU admission, and for whom systematic screening of serum fungal markers was performed.

RESULTS

Thirty patients were included. The majority of patients received corticosteroids (96.7%). The galactomannan antigen assay was positive for 1/30 patients at D0, and 0/24, 0/16, 0/13 and 0/2 at D4, D7, D10 and D14 respectively. 1,3-ß-D-glucan was positive for 0/30, 1/24, 1/12, 0/12, 0/2 at D0, D4, D7, D10 and D14 respectively. No Aspergillus fumigatus PCR was positive. No cases of aspergillosis were retained.

CONCLUSION

Our study does not support the interest of systematic screening of fungal markers in immunocompetent patients with COVID-19 in a conventional unit.