‘Black Fungus’ epidemic: India's latest public health nightmare

‘Black Fungus’ epidemic: India’s latest public health nightmare

May 21, 2021May 22, 2021 News Desk COVID-19 Global Issues

2nd wave of COVID-19 battered Indian public health infrastructure during the last many weeks. As the world scrambled to help India overcome the global pandemic by providing emergency relief in medical O2 and other essentials, a new monster has surfaced to send the country in a new healthcare crisis. According to media reports, multiple Indian states and territories have formally declared mucormycosis – more commonly known as ‘black fungus’ infection – to be an epidemic. This new epidemic is related to COVID-19 in a wired way as it’s killing those Indians who have recovered from Covid-19 previously.

Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Gujarat, and the Chandigarh union territory have declared the epidemic on Thursday after the Union Health Ministry called on Indian states to declare an epidemic. Telangana and Rajasthan have already declared epidemic even before the letter from Union Health ministry was even issued. It makes the number of states suffering from Black Fungus to six and experts are worried if the epidemic spilled to other states as well in future weeks.

It’s noteworthy that in early May, doctors in India began raising the alarm about a rise in mucormycosis — a rare and potentially deadly infection also known as black fungus.

The infection enters through the bloodstream via a cut or through the respiratory system via the nose, and can then spread to the heart, the brain, and the lungs. Black fungus is caused by mold found in damp environments like soil or compost, and can attack the respiratory tract. It is not contagious and does not spread from person to person. Symptoms can include facial swelling and black lesions, and mucormycosis has a fatality rate of around 54%.

Several types of fungi can cause the disease. These fungi aren’t harmful to most people, but can cause serious infections among those with weakened immune systems, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As per medical experts in India, people with a weakened immune system after having COVID-19 infection are most vulnerable to black fungus while other people with health conditions like Diabetes are among the victims of this new infection.

The Union Health Ministry warned on Thursday that black fungus was leading to a “prolonged morbidity and mortality amongst Covid-19 patients.”

According to most recent reports, at least 90 people have died from the fungus during the pandemic, with thousands more cases recorded. Health experts argue that steroids used for Covid-19 patients, along with a lack of proper sanitation, could be behind the surge of cases.

Black fungus commonly affects the sinuses or lungs after a person inhales fungal spores in the air, and can also affect the skin following a surface injury like a cut or burn. Symptoms depend on where in the body the fungus is growing, but can include facial swelling, fever, skin ulcers and black lesions in the mouth.