Reasons behind the spread of dangerous black fungus infection cases in India

Cases of black fungus are on the rise in many patients battling the COVID-19 infection in Delhi. The question that is now being posed is that does the increasing cases of black fungus have anything to do with masks? Health experts have a divided opinion on this.

Disease caused by wearing dirty masks

Many medical experts believe that black fungus infection can occur if clean masks are not worn and the rooms are poorly ventilated. However, many experts say there is no clinical evidence to substantiate these reasons.

Doctors at many leading hospitals here said many patients, both COVID and non-COVID ones, have presented themselves at the facilities who have been infected with mucormycosis or black fungus and had a history of exhibiting poor hygienic practices, including wearing unwashed masks for a long time.

'Improper use of steroids'

Dr Suresh Singh Naruka, an ENT specialist at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, says that the main reason for black fungus infection is 'improper use of steroids'. 

“If such patients are administered steroids, their immunity reduces further, allowing the fungus to thrive,” the doctor said, adding, steroids should be administered very judiciously after proper clinical examination by a doctor.

“In many cases, we also found that people who had contracted black fungus had self-medicated themselves on steroids, after their oxygen concentration levels had dropped, making them susceptible to this ailment which is being found more in COVID patients under treatment or recovery than others,” Naruka said.

Dr Ajay Swaroop, chairman of the ENT department at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital here, said, mucors live in every human body along our nasal passage and nasopharyngeal region “symbiotically”.

'Don't go to the hospital in a hurry'

He said, "When a person's immunity decreases, as in the case of covid, these mucors start growing and cause infections. It has symptoms such as bleeding from the nose and swelling in the eyes.' However, he advised that people should not come to hospitals in a hurry and seek a doctor's opinion.

Mucormycosis, also known as black fungus, can turn dangerous if left untreated, doctors said on Friday amid reports of re-emergence of the rare deadly fungal infection among COVID-19 patients across hospitals in Delhi, Pune, and Ahmedabad.

The fungal infection is caused by a group of molds called 'mucromycetes'. These molds live throughout the environment. Mucormycosis mainly affects people who have health problems or take medicines that lower the body's ability to fight germs and sickness.

The common symptoms associated with the disease include headache, facial pain, nasal congestion, loss of vision or pain in the eyes, swelling in cheeks and eyes, and black crusts in the nose. The US Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates Mucormycosis with an overall all-cause mortality rate of 54 per cent.

Corona patients at risk from black fungus

"Mucormycosis is affecting COVID patients more due to prolonged administration of steroids and subsequent immunocompromised state," Dr Suranjit Chatterjee, Senior Consultant, Department of Internal Medicine, Indraprastha Apollo hospital, New Delhi, told IANS.

People with diabetes, those on steroids and humidified oxygen for a long time, and COVID patients with pre-existing comorbidities are the most at risk. Others include patients like those post chemotherapies, those on long-term immunosuppressive drugs.

(With agency inputs)