India: former Covid-19 patients affected by a mysterious fungus
Doctors treat a patient with respiratory problems at a hospital in Bijnor district, Uttar Pradesh, May 11, 2021. REUTERS - DANISH SIDDIQUI
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2 min
India is seeing a growing decline in the number of reported cases of Covid-19, although there are concerns about the spread of the virus in the countryside where infections are even less detected.
But in the old patients, a devastating new disease emerges: it is nicknamed the black fungus disease.
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With our correspondent in New Delhi,
Sébastien Farcis
It starts with a headache or redness of the eyes. Quickly, a black spot spreads around the eye: it's a fungus, called mucormycosis and in a few days, it can attack the whole face, to the point that doctors have to remove an eye, or even part of the jaw. This disease can be fatal, especially if it attacks the brain. Hundreds of cases of mucormycosis have been reported in recent days in India in people who have received recent and inappropriate care for Covid-19.
“
The main reason is the overuse of steroids and intravenous antibiotics,”
explains surgeon Arvind Singh Soin of Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon.
Because when you kill bacteria in this way, you promote the spread of the fungus.
Another reason is poor hygiene during oxygenation, with the use of masks or dirty tubes for example.
Finally, this fungus is mainly spread in people who have uncontrolled diabetes.
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These cases are still rare: a few hundred have been reported in India for 10 million cases of Covid-19 recorded in the past month.
But the rapid increase worries doctors, especially as the antifungal drug used to fight it is no longer available in some major cities across the country.
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