Black fungus stalks COVID-19 patients in India
A woman undergoes a check-up. The new strain of COVID-19 virus can cause patients’ blood sugars to shoot up, creating a suitable environment for mucormycosis. Copyright: Trinity Care Foundation, (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). This image has been cropped.
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Shortage of antifungal drug amphotericin B adds to problems
Fears that mucormycosis cases may increase COVID-19 morbidity
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The fungus “grows incredibly fast”, says David Denning, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Manchester and chief executive of the Global Action Fund for Fungal Infections (Gaffi).
And “once it gets in, it just marches through the tissue and doesn’t respect tissue planes, so it can go straight from ordinary tissue through into bone, into nerves”, he told The Telegraph.
Symptoms include a stuffy and bleeding nose, pain and swelling in the eyes, blurred vision and sometimes black patches around the nose.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, mucormycosis was “extremely rare” in India, with just a few cases annually, the paper reports. But now “leading hospitals across India are now seeing multiple cases daily”.
May 11, 2021 01:34 PM EDT
In India, some COVID -19 patients have developed an unusual and likely fatal fungal infection known as mucormycosis, also called black fungus, according to news reports.
(Photo : Thibault Luycx)
Mucormycosis
Mucormycosis results from a group of molds known as mucormycetes, which develops in decaying organic matter and the soil, like rotting wood and leaves, as stated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A Mumbai-based eye surgeon, Dr. Akshay Nair told BBC News: It is almost everywhere and can be seen in soil and air and even in healthy people s nose and mucus.
The mold can get into the body through cuts and other injuries in the skin, or the infection can remain in the lungs or sinuses after people inhale the fungal spores. Once the mold gets inside the body, the fungus can at times affect other organs, like the heart, eyes, brain, and spleen, by spreading through the bloodstream.
Hospitals in India have seen a rise in cases of mucormycosis, a life-threatening infection.
Experts have linked steroids that treat COVID-19 to the uptick since they dampen the immune system.
One doctor in Mumbai said 11 of his patients had required life-saving eye-removal surgery.
In the wake of India’s second wave of COVID-19, hospitals are reporting an uptick in cases of mucormycosis, or “black fungus” – a serious but rare fungal infection.
Dr. Akshay Nair, an eye surgeon who works at three hospitals in Mumbai, told the BBC he saw at least 40 patients with the fungal infection in April alone.
That’s a huge uptick from the average number: He said he had seen only 10 cases of mucormycosis in the prior two years.
NICOLETTA LANESE, LIVE SCIENCE
11 MAY 2021
Some COVID-19 patients in India have developed a rare and potentially fatal fungal infection called mucormycosis, also known as black fungus, according to news reports.
Mucormycosis is caused by a group of molds called mucormycetes, which grow in soil and decaying organic matter, such as rotting leaves and wood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
It is ubiquitous and found in soil and air and even in the nose and mucus of healthy people, Dr. Akshay Nair, a Mumbai-based eye surgeon, told BBC News.
The mold can enter the body through cuts and other abrasions in the skin, or the infection can take hold in the sinuses or lungs after people breathe in the fungal spores. Once inside the body, the fungus can sometimes spread through the bloodstream and affect other organs, such as the brain, eyes, spleen and heart.