India has experienced a worrying outbreak of fungal infection triggered by coronavirus, which has a death rate of almost 50 percent – and can lead to blindness and nose and jaw removal, according to local reports.
The Gujarat Health Hepartment issued a statement on the disease, called mucormycosis, which was reported among COVID-19 patients in Ahmedabad and Rajkot, Indian Express reported.
“Mucormycosis is a type of fungal disease that infects people with compromised immune systems and, with other existing diseases, it is a serious infection with a mortality rate of almost 50 percent,” said the consultant.
Doctors at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, a major private facility in Delhi that treats people from across Southeast Asia, have reported more than a dozen cases of the fungus, according to the media.
The black fungus mucormycosis – formerly called zygomycosis – is a serious but rare infection, caused by a group of fungi called mucormycetes, which exist in the environment.
The condition mainly affects people with health problems or taking medications that decrease the body’s ability to prevent germs.
“The frequency with which we witness the occurrence of COVID-triggered mucormycosis with high morbidity and mortality is alarming,” said Dr. Manish Munjal, a senior otolaryngologist at the hospital, to Indian Express.
“The early clinical suspicion of symptoms such as nasal obstruction, swelling in the eyes or cheeks and dry black scabs on the nose should immediately lead to a biopsy and the start of antifungal therapy as soon as possible,” he added.
Symptoms include pain, numbness in the face, nasal obstruction and swelling of the eyes, according to the report. If the infection reaches the lungs, symptoms can include fever, cough, chest pain and shortness of breath.
Cutaneous mucormycosis may appear as blisters or ulcers and the infected area may turn black. Gastrointestinal mucormycosis may be indicated by abdominal pain, vomiting and bleeding.
In one case, a 32-year-old man who recovered from COVID-19 developed a nasal obstruction and eye swelling two days later. The left side of his face went completely numb and he was rushed to the hospital.
“His tests revealed the presence of high levels of sugar and infection, but even more deadly, the presence of a rare killer fungus called Mucor, which was collected from the remains of his nose,” said Munjal.
“An MRI scan revealed that the infection had already destroyed a significant part of her left breast, eye, upper jaw bone and muscles, and even made it to the brain,” he added.
Surgeons removed the patient’s infected tissue, who received life-saving antifungal drugs and intensive care support for more than two weeks, according to Indian Express.
“Orbital involvement (the bone cavity that contains the eyeball) is a serious development in the course of this disease and points not only to the possibility of permanent loss of vision, but also of life, because the involvement of the brain is the main cause of death in mucormycosis, ”said Dr. Shaloo Bageja, senior eye surgeon at the hospital.