India faces black fungus epidemic as cases climb

The Centre tells the Delhi HC there are 7,251 cases across India; Maha has the highest caseload with 1,500 infections

NEW DELHI: At least 7,250 people are confirmed to have mucormycosis in India but the actual spread may be much wider, and authorities in several states have now sounded the alarm on the rare life-threatening disease that is rapidly popping up across the country as a Covid-19 complication.

At least 219 deaths have been recorded due to mucormycosis, as per figures shared by officials in 13 states and Union territories with HT. The Union government said on Thursday that states should declare the disease notifiable under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, making it mandatory for all medical facilities to report infections to a central disease surveillance network. The Delhi government separately decided to set up special treatment facilities in three of its hospitals.

“We have asked states to add mucormycosis as a notifiable disease under the epidemic diseases act as in a communication to states yesterday (Wednesday). Doing so makes it mandatory for all hospitals to report cases so that we can consolidate data about it, and also ensures the screening, diagnosis and treatment is followed as per protocols of the Union government and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR),” said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary, Union health ministry, during a routine press briefing. The Centre told the Delhi high court on Thursday that as of May 19, there were 7,251 people with mucormycosis in India.

NEW DELHI: There have been at least 219 deaths due to mucormycosis, according to officials in 13 states on Thursday, as the alarm around a typically rare disease grew this week, prompting the Union government to urge states to make it mandatory for all hospitals to report if they detect these cases.

The Union government told the Delhi high court there were 7,251 cases of mucormycosis, also known as black fungus, across the country.

Of these, Maharashtra, which also has had the highest Covid-19 case burden, reported the most infections at 1,500 cases and 90 fatalities with Gujarat detecting the next-highest numbers of 1,163 cases. The issue was raised by Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope at a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. After the meeting, he said, the state government needs more supply of Amphotericin B, the medicine used in its treatment, from the Centre.

The infection, which some doctors have blamed on the high use of steroids to combat Covid-19, kills more than 50% sufferers within days. In some cases, eyes and upper jaws are removed to save lives.

Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Telangana became the latest to declare black fungus as notifiable disease under the epidemic diseases act, a day after Rajasthan, and following a letter from the Union health ministry suggesting so.

Tope’s statement came on a day when the Delhi high court asked the Centre to take steps to source Amphotericin B from wherever it is available in the world. In Gujarat, where officials told HT there were close to 1,200 cases and 61 deaths, special wards have been set up in major cities to deal with the rising cases.

In Madhya Pradesh, where officials said there were 575 cases and 31 deaths, lack of the anti-fungal drug was making treatment tough, doctors said.

Uttarakhand has reported 48 cases of black fungus so far, of which three infected patients have died. Rajasthan reported over 80 cases of black fungs and many of them have been admitted in special ward in Jaipur’s Sawai Madho Singh (SMS) hospital. Most of the southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka have reported a few cases.