BHUBANESWAR: A group of researchers at AIIMS Bhubaneswar has discovered a new species of fungus that can cause chronic mucormycosis in immunocompetent individuals. The species was detected in a patient admitted to the hospital, prior to Covid-19 pandemic, three years back.
The species has been named Cunninghamella arunalokei after Prof Arunaloke Chakrabarti in his honour for his contributions to the development of medical mycology in India and Asia.
One of the researchers, Associate Professor of Department of Microbiology Dr Vinay Kumar Hallur said the 26-year-old patient came to the institute after finding no treatment elsewhere. “We studied the patient and after a number of tests we decided to culture the fungus. We found it different from others discovered earlier and it causes mucormycosis. I consulted my teachers at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, who also confirmed it to be a new species of Cunninghamella group,” he said.
Cunninghamella species are predominantly seen in soil and air samples. So far, 15 species and three varieties of Cunninghamella have been discovered of which four species have been reported in humans.
Cunninghamella infections are predominantly seen in patients with hematological malignancy and hematopoietic stem cell transplant, he said.
“Our findings are unique as Cunninghamella rarely causes mucormycosis in immunocompetent individuals. But, this is a novel fungus from the group. Phylogenetic analysis also confirmed that it is a new species,” the researcher said.
Apart from Dr Hallur, five other faculty members of AIIMS-Bhubaneswar and two from PGIMER conducted the study that has been published in the Journal of Fungi, an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal of mycology.