Black Fungus: All you need to know

India is recovering from coronavirus, which mainly affects the respiratory system. The treatment given to the COVID patients gradually decreases their immune power. Thus, this gives way for black fungus to emerge in this case. But, if the black fungus disease affects the COVID patient or a person, it pushes the patient into a very severe condition to survive. Usually, black fungus cases are about 10 in a year all over India. But, during this pandemic situation, it gains a very high growth potential. Haryana has reported 421 cases, 258 cases in Tamil Nadu, and 700 cases in Karnataka, more than 8,800 cases all over India.

Table of Contents

What are the questions answered about Black Fungus?

What is Black Fungus?
How it affects the body?
Why it affects the body?
Why COVID patients are highly affected by this disease?
Who is mainly affected other than COVID patients?
Symptoms
Treatment
A glimpse of White Fungus
A special case

Black Fungus (Mucormycosis)

Black fungus is a type of mushroom fungi that are commonly called Mucormycosis. It is a rare fungal infectious disease caused by a group of moulds called mucormycetes. Like the bread moulds, these are present throughout the environment, in dead and decaying matter.

How mucormycosis affect the body?

Mucormycetes are present in our surroundings. Most people come in contact with fungi in the form of microscopic vegetative spores. It enters our body through the nasal passage, eyeballs, oral passage, etc. It’s nearly impossible to avoid the contact of these spores from the environment.

Why mucormycosis affect the body?

Obviously, people live in an environment where these spores live. But, we don’t get affected by these fungi because of a healthy immune system. However, the affected people are due to the weakening of their immune systems by the treatment given to COVID patients.

Why mucormycosis highly affects the COVID patients?

Not every COVID patients’ treatment gives this disease as a side effect. Some of the patients affected by COVID may be due to a weak immune system. Thus, these patients are impotent and easily prone to these types of pathogens. And, some of the patients may be in a critical stage of COVID and are recommended to take steroids for further treatment by doctors. These steroids may give you the strength to survive COVID, but they further weaken the immune system.

Who is mainly affected other than COVID patients?

People who take medicines regularly for other reasons, like diabetes, cancer, heart patients, organ transplanted patients, low WBC count, or high iron content in the body. In the same way, for people who have injuries or wounds, taking a drug intravenously through injection is also a factor that gets affected by this disease.

Symptoms:

The symptoms of Black Fungus depend on the location of the growth of the fungus in the body. For instance, if the spores had entered through the eyeballs, it affects the region surrounding the eye. If the spores had entered through the nasal passage, it spreads over the lungs.

Symptoms if the growth occurs in the lungs (pulmonary mucormycosis):

Fever
Cough
Chest Pain
Dyspnea (Shortness of breath)

Symptoms if the growth occurs in head (i.e) brain, sinus (rhinocerebral mucormycosis):

Headache
Fever
Stuffy nose
Black lesion on nasal bridge

Symptoms that are visible on skin (cutaneous mucormycosis):

Patches on shoulders and thigh
Patches around the eye
Swelling around the wound

Treatment for Mucormycosis

Mucormycosis is not an incurable disease like coronavirus. It is curable by some antifungal medicine like amphotericin B, isavuconazole, etc. These medicines are given either intravenously or orally. If it has gone to a very severe condition, the infected tissue must be taken by surgery cut.

Why Indians are highly affected due to Black Fungus Disease?

According to some researchers, they predict that the black fungus disease highly affects Indians rather than other countries, because diabetes patients are in high numbers in India. Moreover, many diabetic patients do not control the sugar levels in their blood. Thus, this may be one of the causes of high vulnerability in India. The B1.617 genetically modified virus, which makes the patients too weak, may also be one of the reasons why Black Fungus disease has highly affected Indians.

A glimpse of White Fungus

Other than black fungus, there is something called white fungus, where suddenly the number of white fungus cases has increased in India. Four cases of white fungus infection have been reported in Patna, with one case in Jabalpur. Alike black fungus, it’s not contagious but can be easily inhaled by patients.

A Special Case

India has reported a person with 3 types of fungus in their body who recovered a few days ago as a COVID patient. In Uttar Pradesh, reported a special case stating that the patient has Black Fungus, White Fungus and Yellow Fungus altogether. After discharge as a COVID patient, he came back in two days stating that he had swelled near his eyes. The doctor reported that he had three fungi. In fact, it’s a very rare case, with only one case reported all over India.