As India continues to deal with the world’s fastest-growing coronavirus epidemic, health authorities have issued a warning about a fungal infection found in some COVID-19 patients that can disfigure facial features and even destroy.
Mucormycosis, also known as “black fungus,” will damage the sinuses and lungs if the spores are inhaled, according to the ICMR in a health advisory released on Sunday. Patients who have been on treatment for a long time or who have spent time in the ICU are especially vulnerable, according to the ICMR. According to local media outlets, the uncommon but lethal virus will injure and maim people, with some losing their upper jaws and eyes as a result of contracting it.
With over 300,000 new virus infections recorded in India for the past 19 days, doctors are seeing an increase in such cases in emergency rooms around the country โ an unexpected result of intense medical intervention that often involves oxygen tubes through the nose.
According to the New York Times, the fungus will infect the respiratory tract and was present in India prior to the Covid pandemic.
A second virus wave has strained the health system to breaking point, proving to be more deadly and difficult to manage than the first.
Pressure and redness around the eyes and nose, shortness of breath, bloody vomiting, and a change of mental status are all warning signs of a fungal infection, according to the ICMR. Doctors recommended that the patient’s blood glucose levels be monitored and that humidifiers used for oxygen therapy be filled with clean, sterile water. Overuse of steroids, according to the ICMR, could exacerbate the infection.
The fungus is the latest complication in India’s virus battle, which is still short on hospital beds, oxygen cylinders, Covid antibiotics, and vaccine doses as the number of cases rises. Experts have warned that the sheer size of India’s outbreak is bound to generate new virus mutations and after-effects from the virus that may not have been seen elsewhere.
