BBC News- India has reported more than 8,800 cases of deadly “black fungus” in a growing epidemic of the disease.
The normally rare infection, called mucormycosis, has a mortality rate of 50%, with some only saved by removing an eye.
But in recent months, India saw thousands of cases affecting recovered and recovering Covid-19 patients.
Doctors say there is a link with the steroids used to treat Covid. Diabetics are at particular risk.
Doctors have told the BBC it seems to strike 12 to 18 days after recovery from Covid.
The western states of Gujarat and Maharashtra have reported more than half of the reported cases. At least 15 more states have reported between eight and 900 cases. Following the rise in cases, India’s 29 states have been told to declare the disease an epidemic.
At the 1,100-bed state-run Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital in the central Indian city of Indore, the number of patients had leapt from eight a week ago, to 185 on Saturday evening.
More than 80% of the patients need surgery immediately, Dr VP Pandey, head of the hospital’s department of medicine, told the BBC.
Dr Pandey said the hospital had set up 11 wards with a total of 200 beds to treat black fungus patients: “This surge in patients was definitely unexpected,” he said. “We used to see one or two cases a year previously.”
He reckoned that there were at least 400 patients with the disease in Indore alone.
“The black fungus infection has now become more challenging than Covid-19. If patients are not treated in time and properly, than the mortality rate can go up to 94%. The cost of treatment is expensive, and the drugs are in [short supply],” Dr Pandey said.
Courtesy: bbc.com/news
