Hypothesis: SARS-CoV-2 Variants Worse Than HIV, Disrupting Immune System And Giving Rise To Dangerous Opportunistic Infections Including Candida Auris

Thailand Medical News is proposing a new hypothesis that the new emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants including the second and third generation variants arising from present identified VOCs or variants of concern and also from VOIs or variants of interests, are behaving far more worse in terms of the way they disrupt the various components of the immune system and even various T-cells and that infections with these new variants are leading to far worse health and medical conditions than HIV infections as those infected and even those termed recovered from the COVID-19 disease are and will be exposed to dangerous secondary opportunistic infections be it viral, bacterial or even fungal.

As early as June 2020, Thailand Medical News had reported about the emergence of a secondary fungal infection in patients in Brazil caused by the Aspergillus fungus. https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/breaking-covid-19-news-scientists-discover-drug-resistant-hybrid-fungus-aspergillus-latus-involved-in-lung-infections-of-certain-covid-19-patients
 
Aspergillusis a type of fungi group that affects the lungs, and it can also be fatal.
 
What we did not know then and also was not reported then was that it was the new VOC or the P.1 strain that was not being properly detected then due to lack of genomic surveillance that was actually infecting most of these patients. The medical and research community paid very little heed to what we had to say then.
 
Then In late April 2021 we saw a rise of COVID-19 patients in countries where new variants such as the delta variant are prevailing exhibiting    mucormycosis  or a dangerous black fungus infection. In India as of the beginning of June , more than 31,000 COVID-19 patients were infected with this fungal infection and more than 2,000 of them died from it. https://news.yahoo.com/tens-thousands-covid-19-survivors-095036744.html
 
Now doctors now UAE, Iran, Pakistan, India and even in some parts of the United States are reporting a rise in other deadly fungal infections in COVID-19 patients, not just aspergillus but the more concerning  candida strains.
 
There are two species of Candida fungi - auris and albicans  and they both can be fatal for human beings. Of the more than five million types of fungi, in the world, the Candida and Aspergillus are the two major groups which cause a lot of human deaths.
 
Candida is a fungi that can be present on many surfaces, like shower curtains, computer screens, doctor's stethoscopes and railings of railway carriages. Doctors say C. auris frequently causes bloodstream infections, but can also infect the respiratory system, the central nervous system and internal organs, as well as the skin.
 
Aspergillus also remains in the environment and is often found in heating or air conditioning systems.
 
Normally our immunity helps prevent the entry of the fungal spores in the respiratory tract. However in patients suffering from COVID-19, the fungus, helped by the damage done to the skin, blood vessel walls and other linings of the airway by the coronavirus, manages to enter the respiratory tract.
 
But this is just one part of the problem. New data speculates that the new variants are disrupting the human immune system far more badly than the initial strains, hence those infected are becoming more vulnerable to secondary opportunistic infections. There are even speculations that the various T cells like the CD4, CD8, CD16 cells are all being damaged by the variants.(studies are underway to prove this)
 
Doctors in Brazil in March 2021 reported the emergence of the worrying candida auris fungal strains in COVID-19 patients. https://www.mdpi.com/2309-608X/7/3/220
 
Candida auris is worrying as not only can it be fatal but most of its strains are drug resistant. https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/alert:-the-new-resistant-fungal-threat--to-asia,-candida-auris
 
https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/healthcare-professionals-worried-about-new-dangerous-fungal-infection,-candida-auris
 
Since the publication of that paper, it has been observed in many countries including the United States where there has been a rise in candida auris infections and interestingly many of them are so called recovered COVID-19 patients or are suffering from long COVID (many were previously asymptomatic).
 
On simple deductions we can assume that somehow, the newer variants are causing more damage to the host immune system.
 
Some experts initially blamed these fungal infections to the excessive usage of dexamethasone and in some cases to contamination of hospital equipment etc but it has now been seen that even in cases where dexamethasone was never used or in asymptomatic COVID-19 patients that were never hospitalized, these opportunistic infections are taking still taking place.
 
Whatever we have learned about how the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus attacks the human host immune system and various cellular pathways last year are no longer valid as each newer variant is behaving differently despite some experts claiming this is not the case although they lack any specific studies where each variant disease pathogenesis has been studied in detailed.
 
We are not dealing with one homogenous virus but rather unique different variants. To put it bluntly…we are no longer dealing with a single pandemic but rather a few pandemics at the same time, each caused by a new variant.
 
What is worse is the impact on so called recovered COVID-19 patients…many cases of these fatal opportunistic infections will not be deemed as being caused by COVID-19 and the world will see an explosive number of secondary opportunistic infections, not just related to fungal infections but also to various other viral and bacterial infections. The type of secondary opportunistic infections often seen in HIV patients will also be seen in COVID-19 patients and also recovered COVID-19 patients as well as many other more. Cancers which are also seen manifesting faster in HIV patients will also be seen in these COVID groups. The only difference is that HIV patients are more fortunate as they already know what to expect and the type of constant screenings and clinical monitorings and treatments to go on. In the case of COVID-19 patients and so called ‘recovered’ COVID patients, they are clueless and so are the medical authorities while certain bigger groups are trying to actually either downplay the seriousness of the evolving pandemic or are simply censoring it all.
 
Thailand Medical News is currently working with a variety of research institutions to provide valid published studies and data to support our hypothesis.
 
Keep on logging to Thailand Medical News to find the latest about the COVID-19 pandemic.