Delhi’s Ganga Ram hospital on Thursday reported a spike in COVID-19 triggered Mucormycosis or black fungus cases. Black fungus or mucormycosis has been a cause of disease and death of patients in transplants, ICUs and immunodeficient patients since long.
Dr Manish Munjal, senior ENT surgeon at the facility said, the hospital has seen six cases of mucormycosis in last two days . Last year, this deadly infection caused a high mortality with many patients suffering from the loss of eyesight and the removal of the nose and the jaw bone, he told news agency PTI. Mucormycosis mainly affects people who have health problems or take medicines that lower the body’s ability to fight germs and sickness. The disease can be fatal.
Chairman of ENT department at Gangaram, Ajay Swaroop said the infection is commonly seen in COVID-19 recovered patients with comorbidities such as diabetes or kidney, heart failure or cancer.
“Use of steroids in the treatment of Covid infection plus the fact that many Covid patients have diabetes as co morbidity could be one of the reasons for this rise in black fungus infection again. Covid patients with weak immunity are more prone to this deadly infection,” he said, according to the news agency.
Also Read:
Covid patients with weak immunity are more prone to this infection, doctors said. The infection most commonly affects the sinuses or lungs after inhaling fungal spores from the air, or the skin after the fungus enters through a cut, burn or other types of skin injury. He said if these symptoms are reported, a biopsy should be conducted immediately and antifungal therapy should be started as early as possible.
