'Black' fungal disease that causes blindness, death strikes Guj after Covid; kills 9

Ahmedabad: Even as the Coronavirus pandemic looms over India, another deadly disease outbreak has alerted authorities. Mucormycosis, a rare but deadly fungal disease, has been making news, with cases coming up in Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

According to a report in India Today, out of the 44 recent cases of mucormycosis in Ahmedabad, nine patients died. The infection has also resulted in eyesight loss for some people.

The rare but deadly fungal infection that has now wreaked havoc in Gujarat, was first reported in India when the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi discovered 13 cases of COVID-19 triggering the infection in a span of 15 days.

The disease, known as Mucormycosis (also called black fungus), is a serious but rare fungal infection caused by a group of moulds (called mucormycetes) and mainly affects immuno-compromised people. While this infection itself is not new, its occurrence in patients recovering from COVID-19 is.

Of the 13 cases reported by SGRH, the hospital's ENT and Eye team has done resections (cut out tissue/parts of organs) in about 10 patients over the last fortnight, with about 50 per cent losing their eyesight permanently.

Five of these patients required critical care support, due to associated complications while five had died, mostly those in whom the infection had reached the brain.