Mucormycosis cases increasing in Maha post Covid
Maharashtra’s healthcare infrastructure, which is already under severe pressure due to coronavirus pandemic, is facing further strain due to the rise of Mucormycosis, a dreaded fungal infection, which has taken 52 lives in the state since the outbreak of Covid last year.
Mucormycosis, known as black
also fungus, has been found in some coronavirus patients, both recovering and recovered. Its symptoms include headache, fever, pain under the eyes, nasal or sinus congestion and partial loss of vision.
Black fungus is mostly found among coronavirus patients who have diabetes, fluctuation in sugar level or increased iron level in the blood. However, it is not found to be infectious like the Covid.
“All the deceased have been the coronavirus patients, who had recovered from the viral infection, but later they succumbed to the black fungus infection. The immune system of such patients is weak which makes them more susceptible to this fungal infection,” said an official from the state health department.
Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope had said there could be more than 2,000 cases of black fungus in the state. In Mumbai alone, 111 mucormycosis patients have been found so far. “A mucormycosis patient needs to be seen by various experts such as ENT, ophthalmologists and neurologists among others. The medicines of the disease are expensive. Hence, patients hit by the disease will be treated for free at 1,000 hospitals covered under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya
Yojana, the state’s flagship medical insurance scheme,” Mr Tope said.
There are complaints about the injections used for treating Mucormycosis patients being sold at higher than the actual price and their rates will be capped, he added.
The Maharashtra Government will also undertake a campaign to spread awareness among people about the fungal infection, said health officials.