Rare White Fungus Abscess Detected in Brain of Covid Recovered Patient in Hyderabad

A rare case of white fungus or Aspergillus forming an abscess in the brain of a Covid recovered patient has been reported from Hyderabad.

The concerned patient had recovered from Covid-19 in May this year and had formed weakness of limbs and speech difficulty. A scan of the brain revealed clot-like formations that did not diminish even after taking medications. It was only after surgery that doctors found that white fungus had formed an abscess in the patient’s brain.

Dr P Ranganadham, senior neurosurgeon, Sunshine Hospitals, while talking to TOI termed the occurrence of this as rare and also conjectured on the route of entry of the white fungus into the brain of the patient.

“This case is unique as there is an abscess formed by white fungus in the brain. The infection is post-recovery from Covid-19. Generally, fungal infections in Covid-19 patients are found if they are diabetic. The patient is non-diabetic. The paranasal sinuses are clear indicating that white fungus had not entered the brain through the nose unlike black fungus,”

Delving further details into the patient’s condition, Dr P Ranganadham said that the patient had started complaining of weakness in the limbs and difficulty in speaking on the sixth day of hospitalization during the peak of Covid second wave. Initially, he said that the patient was treated for haematoma but that possibility was done away with when after repeated MRI of the brain, it was found that the lesion had increased in size with dense and well-defined margins.

“The smaller lesions remained unchanged. When operated, we found a well-encapsulated abscess containing soft necrotic material, separate from normal brain,” Dr Ranganadham told TOI.

The doctor termed the rare occurrence of abscess as Aspergillosis. He said Aspergillosis of the central nervous system is a result of the invasion of the brain blood vessels by white fungus. He noted that though inflammation (granuloma) of the brain by Aspergillus is common, doctors rarely come across cases of white fungus for forming an abscess.

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