Opportunistic Fungal Infections in Immunocompromised Patients of a Tertiary Care Centre, Amritsar, India

Abstract

Introduction: The incidence of opportunistic fungal infections has increased considerably in recent years. The clinical manifestations of these infections are non specific, and laboratory methods generally cannot diagnose infection at an initial phase.So,it is necessary to understand these infections for the treatment of immunocompromised patients adequately. Aim: To study the prevalence of common opportunistic fungal infections in immunocompromised patients in northern India. Materials and Methods: A prospective cross-sectional observational prevalence study was conducted in the Department of Microbiology, Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Amritsar, Punjab, India, from March 2020 to August 2021, on 185 immunocompromised patients. Follow-up was done for a period of six month. Weekly blood samples were drawn and presence of any fungal colonisation was identified with methods such as growth in sabouraud dextrose agar and Indian ink staining. Statistical tests used were prevalence and positive prevalence rate to estimate the most common opportunistic infection in immunocompromised individuals. Results: Out of 185 patients, oropharyngeal candidasis was found to be most common (143, 77.3%) in which opportunistic fungal infections caused by Candida spp. were found in 67 (46.8%) patients representing the most common causing agents followed by Pneumocystis jiroveci (12.5%) and Cryptococcus meningitis (38.2%). Conclusion: Oropharyngeal candidiasis was found to be most common opportunistic fungal infection. This study would help to extend the awareness to clinicians to come up with the right diagnosis and earlier treatment of those infections with the right management of the patients especially in resource limited regions in India.