Diabetes and Fungal InfectionA Didactic Relationship

Abstract

Oral fungal infections are frequently encountered in clinical practice, and with the advent of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) pandemic, their incidence has quite increased. Increased emergence of oral candidal and non candidal infections is evident in patients with uncontrolled diabetes, patients on steroids or antibiotic therapies, and immunocompromised and immunosuppressed individuals. Also, habits of smoking and alcohol consumption, intake of carbohydrate-rich food, and salivary dysfunction have many times influenced the colonisation of fungal infections in the oral cavity. Aspergillosis once considered exotic is now more prevalent than before and presents itself in two forms: non invasive or invasive form, which has led to the rapid dissemination of the disease. Hence, a timely diagnosis of such lesions is important to prevent their invasion into other parts of the body. This article discusses a rare case report of Aspergillosis occurring in the oral cavity at the site of the extraction socket in a 50-year-old woman, who is a known diabetic without any history of COVID-19 infection. Aspergillosis unlike other fungal infections of the oral cavity has been reported more in immunocompetent individuals. Here, we report a unique case limited to the oral cavity in an immunocompromised patient.