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Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) can complicate the clinical course of COVID-19 and are associated with a significant increase in mortality, especially in critically ill patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU). This narrative review concerns 4099 cases of IFIs in 58,784 COVID-19 patients involved in 168 studies. COVID-19-associated invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) is a diagnostic challenge because its non-specific clinical/imaging features and the fact that the proposed clinically diagnostic algorithms do not really apply to COVID-19 patients. Forty-seven observational studies and 41 case reports have described a total of 478 CAPA cases that were mainly diagnosed on the basis of cultured respiratory specimens and/or biomarkers/molecular biology, usually without histopathological confirmation. Candidemia is a widely described secondary infection in critically ill patients undergoing prolonged hospitalisation, and the case reports and observational studies of 401 cases indicate high crude mortality rates of 56.1% and 74.8%, respectively. COVID-19 patients are often characterised by the presence of known risk factors for candidemia such as in-dwelling vascular catheters, mechanical ventilation, and broad-spectrum antibiotics. We also describe 3185 cases of mucormycosis (including 1549 cases of rhino-orbital mucormycosis (48.6%)), for which the main risk factor is a history of poorly controlled diabetes mellitus (>76%). Its diagnosis involves a histopathological examination of tissue biopsies, and its treatment requires anti-fungal therapy combined with aggressive surgical resection/debridement, but crude mortality rates are again high: 50.8% in case reports and 16% in observational studies. The presence of other secondary IFIs usually diagnosed in severely immunocompromised patients show that SARS-CoV-2 is capable of stunning the host immune system: 20 cases of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia, 5 cases of cryptococcosis, 4 cases of histoplasmosis, 1 case of coccidioides infection, 1 case of pulmonary infection due to Fusarium spp., and 1 case of pulmonary infection due to Scedosporium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To theEditor - We were very interested to read the article by Lapointe et al [[1]] regarding the ability of people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (PWH) to mount an efficient antibody response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine. After 7 months, the PWH had a mean (SD) anti-S IgG titer of 309 (216) BAU/mL, whereas the mean anti-S IgG titers of the HCWs at 4 and 10 months were 1218 (649) and 361 (368) BAU/mL, respectively. Anti-S1 spike protein (anti-S) immunoglobulin (Ig) G antibody titers in people with human immunodeficiency virus (PWH) and healthy healthcare workers (HCWs) over time. [Extracted from the article]

Italy was the first European country hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and has the highest number of recorded COVID-19 deaths in Europe. This prospective cohort study of the correlates of the risk of death in COVID-19 patients was conducted at the Infectious Diseases and Intensive Care units of Luigi Sacco Hospital, Milan, Italy. The clinical characteristics of all the COVID-19 patients hospitalised in the early days of the epidemic (21 February -19 March 2020) were recorded upon admission, and the time-dependent probability of death was evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method (censored as of 20 April 2020). Cox proportional hazard models were used to assess the factors independently associated with the risk of death. Forty-eight (20.6 %) of the 233 patients followed up for a median of 40 days (interquartile range 33–47) died during the follow-up. Most were males (69.1 %) and their median age was 61 years (IQR 50–72). The time-dependent probability of death was 19.7 % (95 % CI 14.6–24.9 %) 30 days after hospital admission. Age (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 2.08, 95 % CI 1.48−2.92 per ten years more) and obesity (aHR 3.04, 95 % CI 1.42−6.49) were independently associated with an increased risk of death, which was also associated with critical disease (aHR 8.26, 95 % CI 1.41−48.29), C-reactive protein levels (aHR 1.17, 95 % CI 1.02−1.35 per 50 mg/L more) and creatinine kinase levels above 185 U/L (aHR 2.58, 95 % CI 1.37−4.87) upon admission. Case-fatality rate of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the early days of the Italian epidemic was about 20 %. Our study adds evidence to the notion that older age, obesity and more advanced illness are factors associated to an increased risk of death among patients hospitalized with COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 primarily affecting the respiratory system which can damage vessels walls virtually in any body district. Changes affecting retinal vessels are a good marker for systemic vascular alterations. This study investigated retinal vessels during the acute phase of COVID-19 and after patients recovery. Fifty-nine eyes from 32 COVID-19 patients and 80 eyes from 53 unexposed subjects were included. Mean arteries diameter (MAD) and mean veins diameter (MVD) were assessed through semi-automatic analysis on fundus color photos at baseline and 6 months later in patients and subjects unexposed to the virus. At baseline MAD and MVD were significantly higher in COVID-19 patients compared to unexposed subjects (p < 0.0001). Both MAD and MVD significantly decreased in COVID-19 patients at follow-up (from 97.5 ± 10.9 to 92.2 ± 11.4 µm, p < 0.0001 and from 133.1 ± 19.3 to 124.6 ± 16.1 µm, p < 0.0001, respectively). Despite this reduction vessels diameter remained significantly higher in severe COVID-19 patients compared to unexposed subjects. Transient retinal vessels dilation could serve a biomarker for systemic inflammation while long-lasting alterations seen in severe COVID-19 likely reflect irreversible structural damage to the vessels walls and should be further investigated for their possible effects on tissues perfusion and function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]