The Tropical-Biological Research Unit, in collaboration with the Continuing Education Unit of the College of Science at the University of Baghdad, has organized a seminar on the “Mucormycosis and its relationship to Coronavirus” with the participation of a number of postgraduate students, researchers, plant and medical professionals. This event aimed to highlight the spread of black fungus that is a rare and dangerous infection in India among individuals in conjunction with the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, as well as other four countries that have declared the presence of this disease among the infected people of the pandemic.
The lectures were presented by the Assist. Prof. Dr. Sinaa Waleed Mohammed, included a review of the countries that recorded cases of black mushrooms, namely Chile, Uruguay, Egypt and Iraq, due to different types of fungi belonging to the category of insensitive fungi that include races often found in decomposing organic matter, including rotten bread, fruits and vegetables, as well as soil and compost piles, indicating that one of the causes of black mushrooms is that the infection of Coronavirus, where there is the possibility of a dangerous phenomenon called “Cytokine Storm” that occurs due to the excessive reaction of the immune system to fight the virus by producing a large amount of cytokine, which also causes organ damage, low oxygen, diabetes, high iron levels and immunodeficiency, including increasing of the patient length of stay on automatic respirators, which may create an ideal environment for black mushrooms.