Top doctors enlist causes, symptoms and prevention of black fungus infection in COVID patients

New Delhi: Amid the raging second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the country has been witnessing a sharp spike in the cases of ‘Mucormycosis’, also known as black fungus, adding to the woes.

As there has been an increasing trend in the fungal infection being seen in COVID-19 patients, AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria on Friday stressed that there’s a need to prevent this outbreak. “This was also reported to some extent during the SARS outbreak. Uncontrolled diabetes with COVID can also predispose to the development of Mucormycosis,” ANI quoted Dr Guleria as saying.

As the cases of ‘black fungus’ among COVID-19 patients in the country rise to cross 7,000, the Central government had on Thursday urged all states and union territories to declare it as a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act to ensure mandatory surveillance to tackle the “new challenge”.

Causes

While talking about how it causes the infection, the AIIMS chief said steroid use has become much more in this COVID wave, and steroids given when not indicated in mild or early disease can cause a secondary infection. Those given a high dose of steroids when not indicated can lead to high blood sugar levels and a high chance of Mucormycosis.

Symptoms

The AIIMS chief said the first symptoms of COVID-associated Mucormycosis are pain/stuffiness in the nose, inflammation on the cheek, fungus patch inside the mouth, swelling in the eyelid etc. “It requires aggressive medical treatment,” said Dr Naresh Trehan, Chairman, Medanta.

Prevention

Emphasising the prevention of the black fungus outbreak, Dr Guleria said three factors are very important – good control of blood sugar levels, those on steroids must monitor blood sugar levels regularly, and people need to be careful about when to give steroids and their dosage.

Besides, Dr Trehan asserted that the key to controlling Black fungus is the judicious use of steroids and good control of diabetes, Chairman, Medanta.

Dr Guleria debunks black fungus myths

While suggesting that there has been a lot of misinformation spreading regarding the disease, Dr Guleria said there are a lot of false messages going around that it can happen due to eating raw food but there is no data to suggest that.

“It also has nothing to do with the type of O2 being used. It is also being reported in people in home isolation,” he added.