Potentially fatal fungal infection hits Covid-19 patients in India
The latest health worry came as India on Monday added 366,161 new coronavirus cases, recording a slight dip from a peak of more than 400,000 daily infections over the previous five days. The death toll grew by 3,754 to take the overall tally of fatalities to 246,116, EFE reports.
Doctors in Delhi, Maharashtra, and Gujarat have found many recovered Covid-19 patients with the rare fungal infection known as mucormycosis.
It prompted the health authorities to issue an «evidence-based advisory for screening, diagnosis, and management» of the disease, also called the «black fungus.»
«The fungal infection mainly affects people who are on medication for other health problems that reduces their ability to fight environmental pathogens,» the advisory said, warning that mucormycosis might turn fatal «if uncared for.»
The advisory said the infection, which has an overall mortality rate of 50 percent, might be triggered by the use of steroids for critically ill Covid-19 patients.
«What predisposes (is) uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, immunosuppression by steroids, prolonged ICU stay, and comorbidities - post transplant/malignancy and voriconazole therapy.»
The new disease has further threatened India's already-collapsing healthcare infrastructure as hospitals grapple with an acute shortage of oxygen and beds amid a steady rise in daily coronavirus infections.
Morgues and crematoriums have been overflowing with soaring deaths even as experts believe that India's actual figures could be far higher than reported by the government.
The health ministry reported a decline in the number of new cases compiled on Monday morning as compared to the last five days.
India's overall caseload now stands at 22.66 million, the second-highest after the United States.
The total number of tests done during the previous day was over 1.47 million, the lowest this month, which could have caused a dip in daily infection figures on Monday.
According to the data from the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), an average of 1.8 million tests was carried out daily in the last five days when the country reported over 400,000 cases a day.
The number of active cases in India stands at 3.74 million, with a 22.7 percent positivity rate, which indicates the severity of the pandemic.
A month ago, the positivity rate was just 10.3 percent.
