More than 4,300 people have died in India as a result of the deadly “black fungus,” which is primarily affecting Covid-19 sufferers.
According to Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, India has reported 45,374 cases of mucormycosis(black fungus), an uncommon and severe infection. It usually attacks 12-18 days after recovery from Covid and affects the nose, eyes, and even the brain. Nearly half of those who have been infected are still being treated.
According to doctors, the fungus has a link to the steroids used to treat Covid, and diabetics are especially vulnerable. Steroids appear to help prevent some of the harm that can occur when the body’s immune system goes into overdrive to fight the coronavirus by reducing inflammation in the lungs.
However, in both diabetics and non-diabetic Covid-19 patients, they lower immunity and raise blood sugar levels. This decline in immunity is assumed to be the cause of mucormycosis in diabetics and persons who are highly immunocompromised, such as cancer patients or people living with HIV/AIDS.
According to physicians, the only treatment that works against the condition is an antifungal injection. Maharashtra and Gujarat have been hit the hardest, with 1,785 persons dying from mucormycosis. According to the BBC, there has been “huge undercounting of both cases and deaths” from mucormycosis, according to Dr Raghuraj Hegde, a Bangalore-based eye surgeon who has treated a number of mucormycosis patients.
“Mucormycosis usually kills people weeks to months after they contract the disease. Our current technologies are incapable of capturing that information “he stated. Cases were also undercounted because diagnosis was difficult in smaller hospitals and rural locations, and only a small percentage of cases made it to big city hospitals, he noted.
Many people died of the sickness before reaching a hospital, according to doctors, while a number of previously treated and recovered patients appeared to be suffering from a relapse. “We are seeing patients who were extensively treated for the condition and discharged from hospitals return with a recurrent infection,” Dr Akshay Nair, a Mumbai-based eye specialist, told the BBC.
Please check out the following website for further news articles: