Covid-related black fungus has claimed 52 lives in Maharashtra so far, according to official data

As many as 52 people have died due to Mucormycosis, a rare but dangerous fungal infection, in Maharashtra since the COVID-19 outbreak last year, a senior health department official said on Friday. All of them were COVID-19 survivors, but succumbed to the black fungus infection, the official said.

For the first time, the state health department has compiled a list of deaths caused by black fungus," said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity. On Wednesday, Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope had said there were 1,500 cases of black fungus in the state, which is in the throes of a severe second wave of COVID-19.

Early symptoms include greyish-black crusting/pigmentation in the nose or oral cavity that may enlarge and block the nasal cavity. Another symptom could be spores of fungus depositing near the eyes that leads to ocular swelling. Some patients may get lesions over the cheeks. The symptoms usually start revealing themselves a day or two after recovery. Eight patients in Maharashtra have been admitted after they lost vision in one eye.

Rising Mucormycosis cases, whose treatment requires a multidisciplinary approach, is expected to put a further burden on the state's healthcare infrastructure which is already under a strain. The fungus thrives in hospitals where there is improper sterilisation of ventilator circuits and oxygen pipes. “Since, in the treatment of severe covid patients who need prolonged oxygen therapy through high-flow oxygen given through nostrils, via a ventilator, Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure (BiPAP), non-rebreathing mask (NRM), etc., the risk of getting this opportunistic infection increases,” Dr Vashishtha told Business Insider earlier.

The state will float a tender to procure one lakh Amphotericin-B anti-fungal injections to treat Mucormycosis patients, Tope had said a couple of days back. Mucormycosis has a very high fatality rate and this has increased the woes of the health department which has deployed all its resources to combat COVID-19.

Mucormycosis was not a notified disease like malaria and hence its cases were not mapped and a database was not prepared, the official said.

As per health experts cited by news agency PTI, Mucormycosis is mostly found among COVID-19 patients who have diabetes, fluctuation in sugar level or increased iron level in the blood. Tope has said patients with suppressed immune system and co-morbidities are vulnerable to contract the disease.

As part of a contingency plan to treat Mucormycosis patients, the state government has decided to set up separate wards for them at hospitals attached to 18 medical colleges.

With inputs from PTI

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