More states, UTs see cases of black fungus
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Friday said license has been given to five more manufactures for production of Amphotericin-B, used in the treatment of black fungus, as it looks to ramps up its fight against the rare lifethreatening disease whose cases have significantly increased across the country.
The Union health ministry said these pharma companies will start producing 111,000 vials of Amphotericin-B per month from July.
Efforts are being made to supplement the domestic availability of the anti-fungal drug through import, the ministry said, adding that 363,000 vials of Amphotericin-B will be imported in May, resulting in the total availability of 526,752 vials (inclusive of the domestic production) in the country.
It said 315,000 vials will be imported in June and along with the domestic supply, the countrywide availability of Amphotericin-B will be enhanced to 570,114 vials in June.
Several states and Union territories (UTs) have reported an increasing number of patients suffering from Covid-19 complications in the recent days in the form of mucormycosis, popu
larly known as black fungus, the ministry said in a statement.
There is also a reported shortage of Amphotericin-B, it stated.
The five manufacturers which have been given the license to produce the Amphotericin-B within the country are NATCO Pharmaceuticals, Hyderabad; Emcure Pharmaceuticals, Pune; and Alembic Pharmaceuticals, Gufic Biosciences Ltd and Lyka Labs in Gujarat.
There are five existing manufacturers of Amphotericin-B in the country and one importer -Bharat Serums & Vaccines Ltd, BDR Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Sun Pharma Ltd, Cipla Ltd, Life Care Innovations and Mylan Labs (importer).
On Thursday, The Union government said 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.
On Friday, the Uttar Pradesh government declared black fungus as a notifiable disease after around 300 Covid-19 patients suffering from black fungus were admitted to hospitals in the state.
In Delhi, health minister Satyendar Jain said there were 197 cases of mucormycosis in hospitals across Delhi till Wednesday night. Puducherry Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan said 20 people were affected by the black fungus in the UT and were receiving treatment, adding that it too would notify the disease under the epidemic act.
Andhra Pradesh has so far reported 32 cases of mucormycosis, the state health department said.
At least 7,250 people are confirmed to have mucormycosis in India, with the highest in Maharashtra (1,500) and Gujarat (1,163), but the actual spread may be much wider.
Mucormycosis is a fungal infection with a fatality rate of at least 50%.
Typically a rare disease, experts and doctors say thousands have now contracted it because of an overuse of steroids or due to suppression of their immune system, which is often a fallout of attempts to stop the life-threatening immune overreaction due to Covid-19.
ICMR director-general Balram Bhargava said these infections are of fungal spores that typically exist in abundance in the environment.
“If a person’s immunity is suppressed, it will infect them. If the spores have access to high sugar, it will grow. We have seen this happen with Covid-19 patients with diabetes and uncontrolled sugar, or who are immuno-compromised or have been given immune-suppressants,” he added.
Several states are scrambling to place orders for the life-saving drugs required for it. Four people from Damoh and Balaghat districts in Madhya Pradesh died to the disease on Friday, officials said.