Black fungus more deadly than covid-19
Amid a deadly second wave of covid-19 hitting India, doctors have reported more than 8,800 cases of the “black fungus,” a rare and deadly infection that spreads across the country and threatens to end people’s lives who have recovered from the coronavirus. The normally rare infection known as mucormycosis shows a mortality rate of 50%, and some patients can only be saved by removing one eye.
patients who had recovered from covid or were in the process of recovery. Doctors say there is a relationship with the steroids used to treat covid. Diabetics are at higher risk for mucormycosis.
The western states of Gujaat rand Maharashtra account for more than half of the cases. At least 15 other states have counted between 800 and 900. Following the surge in cases, the government has asked 29 states to declare the disease an epidemic.
At the Maharaja Yeshwantrao public hospital in the central city of Indore, patients have gone from 8 a week ago to 185 on Saturday night.
More than 80% of patients need immediate surgery, Dr. VP Pandey, the hospital’s medical director, told the BBC.
According to his calculations, there are at least 400 people with mucormycosis in Indore alone.
“The infection caused by the black fungus has already become a greater challenge than the covid. If patients do not receive adequate treatment in time, mortality can climb up to 94%. The treatment is expensive and we do not have enough medicines”, Dr. Pandey said
Doctors said amphotericin B or “ampho-B,” an antifungal drug that should be given intravenously daily for eight weeks, should be given to patients with mucormycosis.