ArticleAdvances in experimental medicine and biology2023
Vitamin A Deficiency, COVID-19, and Rhino-Orbital Mucormycosis (Black Fungus): An Analytical Perspective.
Article in Advances in experimental medicine and biology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 citations in OpenAlex.
- Three cases of cutaneous blastomycosis in immunocompetent patients.JAAD case reports · 2025Article
- Bilateral Optic Disc Edema Secondary to Severe Vitamin A Deficiency: A Rare Cause of Acute Vision Loss.Case reports in ophthalmologyArticle
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
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Abstract
Mucormycosis is a rare but serious opportunistic fungal disease characterized by rhino-orbito-cerebral and pulmonary involvement. It is mainly seen in people with secondary immunosuppression, isolated vitamin A deficiency, measles, and AIDS patients. It showed a rise during the second wave of the COVID-19 epidemic in the spring of 2021 in India, especially in diabetic COVID-19 patients. Vitamin A deficiency is known to cause nutritional immunodeficiency and hence leading the way to increased opportunistic fungal, bacterial, and viral infections. In the eye, it causes keratitis, night blindness, xerophthalmia, conjunctivitis, Bitot spots, keratomalacia, and retinopathy. It also causes decreased tear secretion and deterioration of the anatomical/physiological defense barrier of the eye. The negative impact of vitamin A deficiency has been previously demonstrated in measles, AIDS, and COVID-19. We think that mucormycosis in COVID-19 might be rendered by vitamin A deficiency and that vitamin A supplementation may have preventive and therapeutic values against mucormycosis and other ocular symptoms associated with COVID-19. However, any vitamin A treatment regimen needs to be based on laboratory and clinical data and supervised by medical professionals.
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