A Black Fungus Infection Is Killing Covid-19 Patients in India
How Covid-19 and its treatments create a breeding ground for black fungus infection.
Black Fungus Infection, India’s New Pandemic
“The black fungus infection has now become more challenging than Covid-19,” says Dr. VP Pandley, head of Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital. “If patients are not treated in time and properly, then the mortality rate can go up to 94%.”
India’s second surge of Covid-19 resulted in an increase of recorded new cases from around 11,000 per day in February 2021 to over 315,000 in April 2021 — a pandemic world record for a 24-hour period. Overall, India reports over 27 million cases and over 311,000 deaths and still counting. The region is the new epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Covid-19’s disease pattern ranges from mild to life-threatening infections, including pneumonia with associated bacterial and fungal coinfections. When combined with comorbid diseases like diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and immunosuppression, patients are prone to severe opportunistic infections. Like the black fungus infection (mucormycosis).
The spread of black fungus infection in India is supported by a high abundance of…
