Case report of a rare fungal infection Kodamaea ohmeri in COVID-19 patient in North Malaysian hospital

Kodamaea ohmeri is a rare opportunistic pathogen belonging to Saccharomycetes family. This yeast was also formerly known as Yamadazyma ohmeri or Pichia ohmeri. This opportunistic pathogen causes illness that typically affects people with impaired immune system. In this report, we discuss a fatal case involving a woman in her late 30s who was admitted to the hospital on the sixth day of her sickness after being given a COVID-19 Category 5A diagnosis. For COVID-19, she received subcutaneous heparin, cefuroxime, and intravenous corticosteroids. She was diagnosed with secondary bacterial and fungal infections in the ICU. Multiple antibiotics and antifungal were given to treat bacterial and fungal infections. An unusual fungus, Kodamaea ohmeri, was isolated from the clinical sample. On day 36, she succumbed to her infection in the ICU. The cause of death was multidrug-resistant sepsis with multiple organ failures due to COVID-19 infection, worsened by an embolism and trachea damage during a tracheostomy. To effectively manage K. ohmeri, clinicians and microbiologists must identify and be aware of this emerging human opportunistic pathogen, which can co-infect debilitated patients such as COVID-19 patients, for effective management.