Black fungus has claimed 52 lives in Maharashtra so far: Official by Nikhil Deshmukh

As many as 52 people have died due to Mucormycosis a rare but dangerous fungal infection in Maharashtra since the Covid19 outbreak last year a senior health department official said on FridayMucormycosis also known as black fungus became a much talked about subject after some recovering and recovered coronavirus patients were found infected with the disease whose symptoms include headache fever pain under the eyes nasal or sinus congestion and partial loss of visionAs many as 52 people in Maharashtra have died due to the Mucormycosis disease since the Covid19 outbreak last year All of them were Covid19 survivors but succumbed to the black fungus infection the official told PTIFor 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 anonymityAlso Read Mumbai BMC to track discharged Covid19 patients for fungal growthOn Wednesday Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope had said there were 1500 cases of black fungus in the state which is in the throes of a severe second wave of Covid19Rising Mucormycosis cases whose treatment requires a multidisciplinary approach is expected to put a further burden on the states healthcare infrastructure which is already under a strainThe state will float a tender to procure one lakh AmphotericinB antifungal injections to treat Mucormycosis patients Tope had said a couple of days backMucormycosis has a very high fatality rate and this has increased the woes of the health department which has deployed all its resources to combat Covid19Mucormycosis was not a notified disease like malaria and hence its cases were not mapped and a database was not prepared the official saidWith the rise in Covid19 cases and preliminary reports of growing infection of black fungus the state started creating a database This exercise revealed that so far 52 people have died due to the black fungus infection the official saidAll the 52 patients died after the coronavirus infection spread in the country However very few deaths took place in 2020 in Maharashtra A sizeable number of deaths have taken place in the current calendar year he saidAs per health experts Mucormycosis is mostly found among Covid19 patients who have diabetes fluctuation in sugar level or increased iron level in the bloodTope has said patients with suppressed immune system and comorbidities are vulnerable to contract the diseaseAs 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 collegesThe treatment requires multidisciplinary expertise because the fungal infection spreads through the nose eyes and can reach the brain Tope has saidThe Maharashtra government has already admitted that at least eight patients in the state have lost vision in one eye due to MucormycosisThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever