With 75 deaths so far, black fungus a challenge for Haryana

AT LEAST 64 BLACK FUNGUS PATIENTS IN STATE HAVE NO HISTORY OF COVID-19 INFECTION, AS PER HEALTH MINISTER

CHANDIGARH: Black fungus infection, detected mostly in people recovering from Covid-19, has claimed 75 lives in Haryana so far, official data revealed.

Advocating the need for research to ascertain causes of black fungus, Haryana health minister Anil Vij had said about a week that the state had at least 64 black fungus patients who had no history of Covid-19 infection.

“People with no history of Covid and those who were not on oxygen support during Covid treatment are suffering from black fungus and it is a matter of concern,” he said, asking the Centre and scientists to look into these findings.

Haryana has detected not just Mucormycosis, commonly called as black fungus, but also yellow and white fungus cases, the state government said on Tuesday.

Until May 31, there were 927 cases of black fungus in 16 districts. Of these, 734 patients are still under treatment while 118 patients have recovered.

Out of the 927 cases reported so far in Haryana, 242 were from Gurugram district, 214 from Rohtak, 211 from Hisar 211, 55 from Faridabad, 48 from Sirsa, 37 from Panipat, 30 from Karnal, 26 from Nuh, 13 from Jhajjar, 11 in Fatehabad, nine each in Ambala and Rewari, eight in Bhiwani, seven in Panchkula, five in Yamunanagar and two in Kaithal.

As per the data, as many as 61 patients (till May 30) had succumbed to the fungal infection with Hisar recording 19 fatalities, Gurugram 10, Rohtak and Sirsa eight each, Jhajjar six, Nuh three, and Bhiwani, Fatehabad and Kaithal one each.

Even after declaring black fungus a notified disease and constituting an expert committee to decide the distribution of injection Amphotericin-B, a drug required to treat the said disease, the challenge before the state government is to ensure timely treatment and uninterrupted supply of injections to patients affected with this infection.

As per the official data, the expert committee has approved 975 Amphotericin-B for 515 patients. The dosage is given per kilogram of body weight. For instance, 5mg/kg. The state government has reserved 75 beds in all medical colleges in Haryana for black fungus patients.