What is the "black fungus" that infects Covid-19 patients in India?

The rapid increase in cases of myocormycosis, also known as the black fungus, has added new challenges to India's healthcare system at a time when it faces a massive second wave of cases of COVID-19.

Below is information on the disease, opinions of health experts, and the scientific evidence behind the recent increase in cases.

What is black fungus disease?

It is a fungal infection that causes blackening or discoloration of the skin around the nose and affects the patient with double or double vision, chest pain, breathing difficulties and coughing up blood.

This disease is closely related to diabetes and conditions of a weak immune system.

Experts said that the increased use of certain drugs in the Covid-19 pandemic to suppress the immune system may be the reason for the increase in cases.

And data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the death rate from black fungus is 54 percent, and this percentage may vary depending on the condition of the patients and the affected physical organ.

States across India have reported more than 5,000 cases of the rare disease in recent weeks, most of them in individuals with or recovering from COVID-19.

Is it contagious?

This disease is not contagious, which means that it cannot be spread through human contact with each other or with animals.

But it is spread through fungal spores circulating in the air or in the environment and is virtually impossible to avoid.

K.

Bojang Shetty, head of Narayana Nitralaya Eye Specialist Hospital, "Bacteria and fungi are already present in our bodies, but the body's immune system restricts them."

"When the immune system collapses due to cancer treatments, diabetes or the use of steroids, these microorganisms gain the upper hand and multiply."

* Does the use of unsterilized oxygen cylinders or respirators cause the spread of the disease?

It's hard to say.

Experts say unsanitary conditions can increase the risk of infection spreading.

"There is a great deal of contamination in the tubes used for oxygen, the cylinders being used, and the humidifiers used," says Nishant Kumar, an ophthalmologist at Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai.

However, opinions are divided on this issue.

As S.B.

Calantree, a researcher physician at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Maharashtra, "Hospitals were dirty even before April, and we need epidemiological studies to assess the reasons for the increase in these cases now."

Why black fungus and not any other fungal infection?

Covid-19 disease has been linked to infection with a large number of bacteria and fungi, but experts say that the second wave of Covid-19 in India has created an ideal environment for the black fungus.

Researchers wrote in the publication (Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research and Review) that low oxygen, diabetes, high iron levels and immunodeficiency, coupled with several other factors, including the long stay in the hospital on robotic respirators, creates an ideal environment for black fungus.