Govt to wait for report on ‘yellow fungus’ in Gzb
GHAZIABAD: Doctors at a Ghaziabad private hospital Monday claimed that a patient, a 45-year-old man who had recovered from Covid-19, was diagnosed with mucour scepticus disease, or so-called “yellow fungus”.
But the district health department said that they awaited the patient’s histopathological (tissue test) report for confirmation.
The patient arrived at the Harsh ENT Hospital at Raj Nagar District Centre (RDC) on Sunday with post-Covid complications.
“It is called ‘yellow fungus’ as the affected area is yellow in colour and pus forms under it. It is generally found in reptiles. It was detected through endoscopic examination of the nose,” Dr BP Tyagi, senior ENT surgeon at the hospital.
Dr Randeep Guleria, director of Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), said during a Covidrelated press briefing on Monday that terms like “black, yellow and white fungus” could mislead and create confusion.“Fungal infections like black fungus are a different family. Its culture has white coloured fungal colonies and has black dots,” he said.
He added that most reported fungal infections were of mucormycosis and aspergillosis (so-called “white fungus”) and some candidiasis infections too.
“So, it is better we use correct names and labelling the same fungus with names of different colours can create confusion,” Dr Guleria said.
Ghaziabad chief medical officer Dr NK Gupta said, “We have spoken to the doctors at the hospital. We are waiting for the histopathological report, expected in a couple of days,” Dr Gupta added.
So far, the hospital at RDC is treating 27 patients suffering post-Covid complication of mucormycosis and invasive aspergillosis, and three of them suffered both.
“These are basically different types of fungal infections and nowadays they are generally termed as per their appearance (colour). Yellow fungus infections mostly occur in unhygienic conditions or during humid weather conditions. It can also affect our vital organs and there is also pus formation. Most of the fungal infections occur in immuno-compromised patients or those having suffering diabetes,” said Dr Sanjeev Kumar Jain, consultant (ENT), Columbia Asia Hospital at Ghaziabad.